King Kong and Terkina oneshots
by Hungarican
Summary: These stories are several oneshots about mostly King Kong and Terk on Skull Island. These play after King Kong alternate ending: King Kong and Terkina. Rated T to be sure. The stories are in chronological order and contain OC characters in some of them.
1. Pretty pink Terkina

Pretty pink Terk

It was an exceptionally hot day on Skull Island, about 50 degrees Celsius. All of the insects resided in the cracks of the rocks to avoid exposure to sun. The carnicti tried to abate their suffering by shifting their positions from time to time, rolling on their sides that were previously in contact with the scorching air to let it cool down in the muck, which resulted in them bumping into each other and causing short conflicts. The dinosaurs acted lazier than usual, the carnivorous ones weren't in the mood to chase after prey and were resting in the shadows of trees. The giant gorillas resided in the rainforest near a sandy beach, the heat was also uncomfortable for them. The good news was that there was an ocean nearby to swim in and the breeze carried moist, cooler air from it towards the land giving the apes a bit of relief. The bad news was that the water was pink instead of its regular teal hue! A ship, transporting pink dye, had gotten caught in a storm the previous night and ended up getting directed by it to Skull Island and smashed into a spire protruding out of the water. No one survived. The gorillas didn't dare crawl into the ocean due to its unusual color, except one specimen: Terk. She still wasn't accustomed to the tropical, boiling climate, let alone this particular day. She and King Kong were sitting in their mutual nest on the ground.

"I can't stand it anymore, I'm going for a swim," she exclaimed.

"I don't think that's a good idea," replied the male. "Who knows what's in the water."

"This is too much for me. It's too hot, I have a headache, I'm going insane!"

"Terk..." called Kong after her, but it was too late.

The female had already sprang up from her sitting position and darted towards the sea. She swiftly made her way in the yellowish, burning sand. Having entered the water she was instantly relieved. She submerged herself then, swam for about 15 minutes while diving under at times.

"Come on Kong, you don't know what you're missing," shouted Terkina.

"No thanks, pinky," he hollered back.

"Don't call me pinky," she yelled back a little angrily now standing up.

She noticed that every troop member was ogling at her, some were laughing.

"What are you all staring at," she enquired in a sharp tone, demanding to know.

"Look at yourself," responded King Kong while smirking.

Terk raised her arm so that it would be situated in her field of vision. She was surprised and widened her greenish brown eyes. Next she looked at her body then legs discovering that she was an even shade of pink, becoming bug-eyed, her mouth gaping open in horror, loathe and disgust.

"I HATE PINK!" she screamed as loud as she possibly could.

She plodded then, when the water level was low enough, crept out of the ocean. She returned ruled by shame, ignited by hatred and surfeit to her amazed band and took her place next to her husband.

"I told you it was a bad idea," said Kong.

"I know," retorted Terk irritably.

It took weeks for the dye to slowly and gradually fade away.


	2. Welcome baby party (gone wrong for one)

Welcome baby party (gone wrong for someone)

About a month ago a female, Indira, brought her baby into the world. King Kong and Terkina were having lunch together when Kong's half-sister, Amal, crept up to them.  
"Indira would like to invite you to her welcome baby party," the orange-eyed female thinner than Terk politely made the announcement to Terk.  
Terk thought 'Oh, shoot!' and stayed silent for a few seconds.  
"Okay," she replied sort of awkwardly stressing the second syllable a little.  
"The party will start tonight before sunset under Indira's nest on the ground," she added.  
"Thanks for the info...," she responded trying to suppress her feeling annoyed.  
After Amal had sauntered away out of hearing distance, Terkina made her true opinion known to King Kong.  
"I don't want to go to this party at all, you know, these baby-things are just not my thing, they are boring! I'm going to this party not to offend anyone. I hope I don't die of boredom," complained the female and let out a loud sigh.  
"I know. You may have to do things you don't want to not to offend the girls. I feel sorry for you," replied Kong empathetically. "You have a silverback instead of a baby, you don't have to hold him all day on your shoulder and burp him at times, you don't have to clean up after him, you don't have to breastfeed him," tried the male to cheer her up.  
Terk smiled a little, but her large eyes didn't indicate happiness, but radiated sadness.  
"I imagined what you said, the last activity you mentioned would be freaky," said Terkina.  
"Agreed. I think you'll survive. I'll be hanging out with two guys not far from where you'll be with the girls," he informed her.  
About 30 minutes before sunset Terk slowly made her way to the destination infested by an ambivalence of unwillingness and obligation. When she arrived Indira holding her infant and two other girls anticipated her. Indira was taller than Kong's mate, but was less heavily built. The other two females were Amal and Mirindi, the latter being from an ex-rival troop. She was older than everyone present and was of similar weight and height as Terk. She was looking at the baby in adoration who was glancing back at her with her big hazel eyes. 'What's so interesting about a mere baby? Has she never seen a baby before? Oh, brother...' thought Terkina. She greeted everyone then, sat down among them. They were conversing about the newborn and examining it visually. Terk felt tense and like a total outsider, she remained quiet. She decided to think of other topics such as her times in New York, Tarzan, King Kong, having fun with him. As she was thinking more and more females joined the party. She really missed the silverback right now and looked around hoping to catch sight of him. She found her mind being flooded by thoughts of him, she didn't realize that her name was called two times already.  
"Terk, helloooooooo," said Amal with a raised voice.  
"Wha," exclaimed the female a little spooked forced out of her daydreaming.  
"Terk, don't you want one of these," enquired Indira, meaning baby under the term one of these.  
"No," gave Terk a sure, determined response.  
"Why not," asked Mirindi.  
"I don't want to be a mom. I don't find the tasks of a mom interesting. I don't want to be 24-7 with a child, how will I have enough time for Kong only," she answered.  
"Babies are fun," replied Amal. "You'll ask someone to babysit when you want to be with Kong."  
"It's not my kind of fun, but I'm okay with babysitting kids if I must, not being all day and all night with them as a mom would. If I'd have a kid I still wouldn't have enough time for Kong even if someone would babysit regularly," Terk explained. "My kind of fun is hanging out with the guys together with Kong, laughing at their funny stories, flinging mud or poo at targets with them, making jokes with them, participating in noise making sessions with them, pulling pranks on others with them, play fighting with Kong and doing other activities with him," she added. "I'm a tomboy, not a girly girl," she confessed.  
One of the females, who was a few years younger than Terk, felt liberated by Terkina's opinion and smiled affectionately at her. Terk having noticed this looked back at her and wondered about her reaction. It raised the question of whether she found a kindred spirit among the group or not.  
"Interesting..." replied a female expressing her finding Terkina weird in her tone.  
"Having your own kid is cool. They are part of you and part of the male you mated with. You have half of yourself in a cute, miniature form that depends on you, especially when he or she's a baby, and loves you. The best thing about this is giving your love to him or her and receiving that love back from him or her. Moreover when he or she grows up she will continue your bloodline for generations and generations. Don't you want to experience these," expounded Mirindi.  
"I don't want to experience these things, moreover I don't want to go through pregnancy and giving birth. The former I find creepy, carrying someone in your body. The latter is very painful, long and I think it's nasty. Since you mentioned babies I don't think there is much fun stuff you could do with them. I would be hardly able to do anything with babies and toddlers. You can't have conversations with them and can't really play with them, just hold them and look at them, that's boring for me. I don't care about my bloodline, it's not important for me to continue it," replied Terkina.  
The ladies kept quiet for a few seconds, some shot strange looks at Terk. That certain young female smiled encouragingly at her. Terk espied her reaction and her bravery increased as a result.  
"All of us would like to pass on our genes and contribute to the band. It's nature's way and you seem selfish," reacted Indira dryly looking Kong's mate in the eyes the whole time.  
Anger and hurt conceived in Terkina. She wasn't going to let this remark go without retaliation.  
"It's definitely not my way! So you think I'm selfish because I don't want to reproduce! How about GIVING most of my LOVE to KONG, satisfying his needs and being there for him!? And not cheating on him by sharing myself with other males!? Is that selfish!? I'm devoted to Kong not to making a bunch of children! I love him so much that it's only him that I want, not children! I don't think ANY of you are able to understand this! Well you know what!? You may find me unusual and selfish, I find all of you boring, excluding one of you! And I am through!," she ranted loudly.  
Terkina got up and hastily left the females. She was swiftly creeping away from them when they started speaking about her in a negative way. She ignored them and made her way in the dark rainforest to locate King Kong and his friends. It was already twilight when she was on the move. The top half of the sky bathed in cerulean while the lower part gradually shifted into a dirty yellow, then a rusty pinkish orange. Insects made exotic calls. A few species of birds were still active uttering squawks and tweets. As she travelled further vociferous laughs emitted at times became more and more audible. As she was drawing near she recognized her husband and his friends, Banagi and Isuku. Banagi was one of the silverbacks from an ex-rival troop and had gained several battle scars as King Kong had. He was loud and liked being a jokester. His other traits were a long, vertical pink scar above his eye which discontinued on his eye, the other half of it lined his cheek under that eye, reddish brown eyes, and helpfulness. Isuku was Kong's younger cousin, he was a black back and more serious than Banagi. He was known for being shy around females and having trouble communicating with them. When Terk showed up, Banagi was imitating a Brontosaurus he had seen that had eaten too much fermented fruit off the ground. He slackly stood on his fours and took some uncertain, wobbly steps forward, but even more backward while uttering deep, drunken groans and making strange faces. His production resulted in robustious chortling. After this was over King Kong's attention was raised by the sight of his wife. The other two males perceived this and looked in the same direction.  
"Is the party over already," he enquired.  
"No, it isn't. I left the party after getting into a heated debate with them, finally, Indira pissed me off, I retaliated then, left them," replied Terk in a glum tone. "I'm totally different from them, they don't understand me. I don't understand them. We just don't mix," she added.  
"What did you argue about," wondered Banagi.  
Terk joined their company, sat down and reluctantly reported her conversation with the females. After this, Isuku remained speechless, Banagi made his voice heard.  
"Well it's a good thing to reproduce for the troop, but it's up to you and Kong whether you want kids or not. He has told us already about your character and relationship with him, your reactions regarding the females don't surprise us. Sorry to say this, but I don't think the girls will understand you and your relationship, everyone here, excluding you and Kong live in a polygamous relationship and spend extended time with the opposite sex when mating. The life of an average female consists of socializing, foraging, mating from time to time when childless and raising kids which takes years. The latter takes up a large portion of her life when she is able to reproduce. You're a rare find, you like guy stuff, which is okay with us and your fun to be with. We know how happy Kong is with you and glad he found a lady that has the image of the kind of male-female relationship he has," responded Banagi calmly.  
"You don't have to hang out with those girls, don't let their opinions bother you. You can keep spending time with us," replied Kong while wrapping one of his arms around his female's waist and pulling her close.  
The four apes spent the night having meaningful conversations, clowning around and ending their get-together with a clamorous noise making session.


	3. First time babysitting

First-time babysitting

About a week after the welcome-baby party King Kong and Terk were asked to babysit Amal's son, Kesho, who in age would be equivalent to a 5-year old human. Terkina found it out of the norm that Kong's half-sister shows up with her son and requests this after she had talked about Terk in a bad way with the other females when Terk was forsaking them.  
"Are you serious? After dissing me along with the girls you expect me to do you a favor," she asked in a coarse tone. "The answer is no," she announced harshly, glowering at her.  
"Amal, you are forgetting something," Kong chimed in sternly whilst making a quick glance at his wife.  
"Terk, I'm sorry for saying bad things about you. The other girls are busy and my friends are waiting for me, we're having a get-together which involves no children, you're the only one that can help me out by looking after Kesho for a while," pleaded the female.  
"I'll do it but we had better set up some rules. If you and the other ladies expect me to do good to you or help you, this includes babysitting, you had better not diss me and do negative things to me. Do you understand," she strictly said.  
"Yes," replied Amal.  
"If any of you treat me badly when I don't treat you that way, don't count on me," she added her tone of voice still firm.  
"Okay," reacted Amal.  
She roved off to meet her circle of friends leaving her son with her half-brother and his mate. Terk didn't know what to say or do, neither did the silverback.  
"Hey, Kesho, do you have friends," asked Terk trying to break the unpleasant silence.  
"Yes," answered the little one.  
"What do you do together when hanging out," she further inquired.  
"We play tag, have sleep overs, sometimes annoy each other and mommy. Yesterday, when she was talking with one of her friends, I copied their gestures and parts of their speech. My mom kept telling me to stop but I was so bored I kept doing it. When she yelled at me, I stopped, threw myself to the ground and played dead. After about a minute she called my name but I remained motionless. She picked me up, I still remained slack. Then, she carried me in one hand, I didn't know where she was taking me. Next, I heard her complaining to my daddy about me. I got scared and started acting normal. My daddy is mean, he gets angry easily, when he's mad at me he hits me. I tried telling my mom that I'm sorry, but she held me close to my daddy. I was really afraid and started crying. My daddy got madder, slapped me across the face and told me to man up and respect my mother. It really hurt," he reported.  
Terk felt sorry for the kid and frowned at him.  
"I'm really sorry that happened. You said that when your daddy is angry with you he hits you. So this has happened before? How do you make your father mad," she wondered.  
"Yes, he's hit me before. I avoid him and crawl away when he comes near. I get on my mom's nerves when I'm with her and her friends in the nest, I'm so bored. When she has enough of me she yells. When I still can't control myself, she takes me to my daddy who hits me," he explained.  
"Why are you bored so much," she enquired wanting to get a whole picture of his situation in his family.  
"My mommy keeps spending time with her friends, she always invites them over or takes me to their nests," he responded.  
"I see... It seems to me that she is neglecting you," concluded the female sorrowfully. She thought that the child is not getting the love and attention from his parents which he truly deserves. "Do you want me to hold you?"  
"Yes," responded the child happily and crept closer to Terk.  
Terkina picked him up, placed him on her chest letting one of her arms support his bottom and the other arm press him against her chest. She leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree, letting it support her back. Kesho brushed his cheek against Terk's who returned the gesture of affection. He felt safe and loved in the female's hold.  
"You were great," whispered King Kong into Terk's ear.  
"Thanks," she murmured back.  
The male situated himself in front of Terk and began stroking the back part of the boy's head and neck. Kesho having sensed this turned his head to the side and got startled when he witnessed it wasn't the female who was petting him but the yellow-eyed, battle-scarred silverback.  
"You don't have to be afraid of King Kong, he won't hurt you, he's not like your father. He does get mad at times, but doesn't hit anyone," assured Terk. "He just wants to stroke you."  
The child reluctantly let the male touch him and after a short while got used to this. The silverback sat down next to his female.  
"I wish you were my mom," the child shyly confessed.  
Terkina held the little one in front of her and smiled at him, but when she envisioned being a mother to him, facing reality in her mind, her beam faded away. Kong was surprised by Kesho's words.  
"I think it's best if your mother and I talk when she comes for you," advised Terk earnestly. "I don't think I'd be a good mother."  
"I don't know how my half-sister is going to react when you bring this up. She has a bad temper like I do. I suggest you let me be present," said Kong.  
"Okay," replied the female. "Kesho, what do you wanna do?"  
"Play tag," he answered enthusiastically.  
Terk put him down in front of her and the silverback.  
"Who's it," she enquired.  
"I don't know," said the boy.  
"Okay, I'll be it. Gallop," suggested Kong's mate.  
Kesho sped away and so did King Kong. After about 5 seconds Terk went after the child. She pursued him through the dense jungle and cornered him between the trunks of two large trees, which were almost conjoined by their trunks. Little did she know that Kong witnessed the chase and was now quietly creeping up to his mate from behind. After getting close enough, he stood up on his hind legs and embraced her while pulling her back.  
"Now's your chance, make an escape," he shouted to his half-nephew.  
Kesho obeyed and fled away quickly.  
"You're it," exclaimed Terk still in Kong's hold while tapping him on the head.  
The male released her, swiftly tapped her back and bolted. She went after him at full throttle and succeeded in touching the back part of his thigh then, hurried towards Kesho with Kong tightly in her tracks. Kesho dashed away from the couple. The male having noticed him closed in on him at a slower speed giving him a chance to gallop away. Terk was watching them from afar. About a minute later the silverback caught the boy and crawled towards his wife. As the child drew near the adults circled around him.  
"Kesho, let's go," called Amal who just showed up.  
She crawled in the direction of the three.  
"Amal, we need to talk," said Terk.  
Terkina described what she had heard from Kesho and emphasized the boy's spiritual problems. Lastly, she stated that she thinks the child doesn't receive the love attention from his mother which he is supposed to and this is why he annoys her. Amal was taken aback by the information and felt regretful. She found it extraordinary that her son opened up to Terk to such a great extent and got along with Terk really well. She sadly left his half-brother and his mate.  
"I hope she will change her behavior towards Kesho," said Terk feeling bad for the child.  
"Me too," replied King Kong. "You tried explaining the problem and its root cause. Let's hope this discussion has an effect on her parenting."


	4. Memories and re-marriage

Memories and re-marriage

One early morning King Kong and Terk were sitting on a cliff looking at the sunrise. The male began snickering.  
"What's so funny," asked Terk.  
"Remember when we went swimming in the ocean together? We were walking deeper into the water, I snuck behind you and dumped water out of my hands onto your hair, flattening it," answered the male while giggling.  
"Yeah, I remember that. I was mad! Then, I suddenly turned around, hollered 'Hey' and shoved you back so hard that you fully submerged in the water with a huge splash," added the female. "Do you remember when they introduced a female younger than me into our enclosure? That was too brutal for me," shouted Terk while distorting her face expressing loath.  
"That was really harsh. I remember your crying your eyes out when seeing her and my failing to comfort you. We had to be extra careful with protecting our relationship," responded Kong sadly.  
"I was very furious and nervous when she first came into estrus, crawled up to you and pursed her lips," replied Terk while reliving the mentioned negative emotions, rubbing her face into her palms.  
"I told her that I'm not mating with her. And before she could answer that's when you threw your first crap and it hit her right in the head," exclaimed Kong, grinning. "I was proud of you!"  
"Even after throwing my doo doo, I could hardly believe that I did such a thing. It didn't end there. I also came into estrus, she and I were in estrus at the same time. We had to sleep as close together as when I'm not in estrus to be sure that she doesn't tempt you and you don't end up committing adultery with her. That night was horrible, I couldn't sleep at all. I was roaming around you while keeping an eye on that girl. The next morning I was a wreck and suggested we escape the enclosure," reported Terk, pulling her hair.  
"I felt very bad for you and hugged you but you punched me in the face like on the day we first met and screamed 'Do you want me to castrate you' in my face," added King Kong.  
"I misunderstood you and thought you wanted to mate with me. I was dead-tired, in estrus still and very anxious because of that other girl and her endangering our relationship," expounded Terkina. "Then I pleaded again that we should get out of the enclosure because I thought that I can't stand life like this living locked up with someone who is not part of our marriage, moreover what if you fall with her and get her pregnant."  
The sun was partially risen already, but the two apes continued conversing about good and bad memories.  
"I listened to you and tried climbing over the building. Right when I placed myself on top of it, I didn't know that it wasn't able to support my weight, it collapsed and I fell down with it. I said 'Oopsie' and you were laughing uncontrollably. Then, we crept through the trail I accidentally made through the building into the outer area. Tarzan noticed us and was shocked. We signaled to him that we don't want that other female here and we're staying outside the enclosure as long as she's here. We also mentioned that she's putting our relationship at risk," said the silverback.  
"Luckily, they let us stay outside and that girl didn't follow us. Glad they got rid of her a week later and we could return to our home. Remember when we got married," responded Terk.  
"Which way, the gorilla way or the human way," asked King Kong.  
"I meant the human way. Not long after we got married the gorilla way they arranged a little ceremony for us. I had to wear a tiara with a white veil that hung from the sides and back part of it, I hated wearing it," answered the female, exclaiming her opinion about her headdress.  
"I think you looked beautiful having it on. Remember when we embraced and kissed after we were pronounced husband and wife," enquired Kong.  
"Yeah, that was great, I'll never forget that," replied Terk.  
"Speaking of marriage, I want to ask you something. I've been thinking of this for about a week now," said the male a little nervously.  
"What is it," wondered Terk who was beginning to feel edgy.  
"Will you remarry me," asked Kong seriously looking his female deep in the eyes.  
"Which way, gorilla or human," enquired Terkina.  
"Human first then, directly after that gorilla," said the male.  
"I will, in both ways," responded the female excitedly.  
"When is this good for you," asked Kong.  
"I have 5 days, including this one, left for mating," answered Terk.  
"How about today at sunset," enquired the male hopefully.  
"Okay. Can it be on the beach," agreed, then, asked Terkina.  
"Yes, that would be excellent. Would you please wear the tiara with the veil," replied the silverback asking his question while making puppy eyes.  
"Alright, I'll wear it, but just for this occasion," answered Terk kindly and in an annoyed way at the same time.  
In the early evening when the sun started hanging low in the sky King Kong and Terkina wondered through the rainforest down to the beach. Terk was already wearing her tiara to avoid carrying it in one hand. A few cumulus clouds whose bottoms were ignited pinkish red by the weakening sunlight spotted the sky in certain places. On the horizon left of the sun a slow-moving anvil cloud was gradually drifting towards the island. At times yellow flashes of lightening illuminated the inside of it revealing part of its structure for less than a second. When the sun began disappearing under the dark teal ocean the wedding started. The apes stood on their hind legs close to and facing each other in the warm sand.  
"Terk, do you retake me as your husband," asked King Kong.  
"Yes," she replied. "Kong, do you retake me as your wife," she enquired.  
"Yes," he responded.  
The two tightly hugged each other while kissing passionately. After that, they remarried according to the gorilla's method. In the nighttime they returned to the troop before the storm reached Skull Island.


	5. Kong's illness prank on Terk

Kong's illness prank on Terk

King Kong thought of a silly idea one morning about how he can play a practical joke on Terk without going too far. He wouldn't have been able to implement this on his own, he needed his friends.  
"Terk, I'd like to have lunch with my friends soon. I'll be right back, I'm going to enquire when they are free," announced Kong.  
"Okay," replied the female who was still consuming her breakfast made of fresh fruit, roots and weta-rexes.  
The silverback left the nest and crept to a darker and denser part of the rainforest where he found two of his friends play fighting.  
"Banagi, Keyta may I talk with you," asked Kong.  
"Yes," they replied and stopped their activity.  
"I want to prank my wife, would you help me do that," he wondered.  
"Are you sure pranking her is a good idea," questioned Keyta. "Remember how she reacted when you acted like a real drunkard and told her this is the result of your eating too much fermented fruit? You shouldn't have included cat-calling other females in the prank, you made her cry," reasoned the older silverback. "If this involves hurting her, don't count on me."  
"I know, that was cruel of me. This joke doesn't involve anything offensive. This is my idea: I leave Terk for a little while to eat lunch with you. You gather food before I arrive where you are, collect wild pears and weta-rexes for me, but what would be ideal is an egg or several of them instead of weta-rexes if this is possible. After eating those, when I begin feeling the effects I'll come to you. This is where I let you witness my fooling her. There's a huge bush about 5 meters away from our nest, what you have to do is sneak behind it in such a direction that it keeps you hidden. When you arrive shake a small part of it then, I'll know you're there. You get to see the whole prank from there. I'm going to act like I caught an illness and one of the symptoms will be excessive flatulence," explained Kong.  
"Seems funny to me," replied Banagi smiling. "I'm in."  
"Me too," chimed in Keyta.  
"When can we do this," enquired King Kong.  
"Tomorrow is good," responded Banagi. "I'm curious how she will react to your farting."  
"She thinks it's funny when I do it, but she is in for a surprise," responded Terk's mate mischievously.  
"Tomorrow is fine for me too," said Keyta.  
After the discussion Kong returned to his female and let her know that he's having lunch with Banagi and Keyta on the next day.  
That certain day, awaited by King Kong and his friends, finally came. When the male approached his fellow silverbacks he was glad to see that they had succeeded in procuring a large egg alongside the pears. Banagi read his facial expression.  
"Pears for the quantity and an egg for the quality," he boasted.  
"You mean quality as in air pollution. Man, I want to see Terk's reaction to that," exclaimed Keyta.  
"Not so loud! You don't want to foil this, do you," snapped King Kong glaring a little.  
"Sorry," apologized Keyta. "I'm excited already. Let's dig in."  
The gorillas ate all that they had gathered while chatting. King Kong returned to Terkina who had just finished her lunch. A few hours later in the afternoon he started feeling gassy.  
"I'll be back, gotta do my business," announced the male and left for his pals.  
Having located the other two males he told them that they can come. Kong and his friends went their separate ways, the former retreated to his nest, the latter quietly drew near the bush in front of the nest on a different route. When Terk's husband witnessed and heard a bough of the shrub rustle, he began the joke.  
"Terk, I feel sick," he said in an earnest tone.  
"What are your symptoms," she asked a little worried while she started examining him visually.  
"I have this little dull pain in my head, at times I have nausea..."  
King Kong mimicked loud and sudden gagging and coughing. Terkina's eyes grew wider. Kong's buddies were laughing inside themselves.  
"My butt cheeks vibrate from time to time, especially when I'm mad," he added. "And I have another sign that just won't come to my mind... what was it," he acted like he was having a hard time recalling his memory.  
The friends had a harder time suppressing their giggling, they conjectured what was coming.  
"What's that noise," wanted to know Terk hearing some of the unsuccessfully concealed chuckles.  
"Oh, those are my intestines. They have started churning and it's not a happy experience, but I still don't remember my last symptom," explained Kong.  
Then, he emitted a thunderous fart.  
Terk started laughing.  
"Oh, now I remember! I pass a lot more gas than usual," he stated enthusiastically.  
Terkina's chortles were interrupted by her sensing a stench like rotten eggs.  
"Kong, eeeeeeewww," she exclaimed while backing up.  
"Terk, I'm sick! I can't help it," complained the male in a raised tone, his facial features showing melancholy.  
Kong counterfeited feeling pain, groaned while disfiguring his face. His wife, from whose face uneasiness could be read, cautiously crept closer to him.  
"Kong, can I help you somehow," she enquired. "Is there anything I can do?"  
"Yes, there is. Please put on your tiara, the sight of you wearing that will comfort me," he squeezed out in a quiet, hoarse voice. "Then, rub my belly," he added.  
Terk reluctantly put on the headdress which she utterly disliked.  
"I'd kiss you right now, but I don't want you to contract the disease," he commented.  
As the female, still wearing what she wore at her weddings, began touching his belly he loudly imitated gagging in unison with letting out a powerful fart. Terkina got startled and immediately jumped back.  
"Terk, I'm so sorry! Could you give it another try," begged Kong ogling at her wistfully with his yellow eyes and reaching toward her.  
"Okay," she replied. "How much longer do I have to wear this stupid thing," she asked impatiently.  
"You can take it off after you finish giving me a belly rub," replied Kong.  
Terkina carefully approached her mate again. Right when she was about to touch the male, he noisily passed gas.  
"Eeeeeeeewwww! You're suspicious to me! You farted twice in a row right before I could rub your belly! I think your messing with me," she concluded angrily. "You're stinking up the nest, could you at least get up, go further and then, let out your farts, not when I'm around!?"  
"Terk, sorry, that is when they bursted out, I can't control my emissions! You want me to get up every single time before letting it rip!? My lower belly hurts, moving around is the last thing I need," shouted back King Kong. "Terk, could you please ease my pain by rubbing my belly," he requested desperately. "Please..."  
"All right," she retorted in an annoyed, slightly frustrated tone.  
Right before she could begin history repeated itself. She lost it!  
"That's it, I'm not rubbing your belly," she yelled enraged.  
"Terk, no, don't leave me," he hollered dismayed after her, widening his sad eyes, reaching toward her. "I'm in pain!"  
"I won't leave you, I won't be far, I just don't want to inhale your stink clouds," she shouted back while crawling away. "Sorry, Kong, if you want me to take away your pain stop farting deliberately when I'm close to you and about to help you," she added in a somewhat coarse tone while glancing back at him.  
"It wasn't on purpose! You know what, I'm leaving the nest! I'll find another place to stay while I'm sick," he roared in an offended way and began roving away.  
Terk instantly swiveled around and rushed towards him.  
"Kong, don't go," she beseeched expressing regret in her voice looking at him worried with her large greenish brown eyes.  
The silverback turned around to face her and glowered at her.  
"I'm going Terk and that's final," he clamorously shouted and let loose a throaty fart at the end of his sentence while narrowing his eyes, one of them twitching.  
An idea popped into the female's mind. She forcefully kissed and embraced King Kong as if her life depended on it. The male grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her away breaking the kiss.  
"Terk, are you insane!? You'll catch my illness," he roared in her face madly.  
"GIVE IT!," she squalled, wildly broke free of her husband's hold, suddenly bear hugged him as tight as she possibly could and locked lips with him again.  
Kong, overpowering her, separated himself from her holding her by her shoulders. She started trying to push his arms out of the way, but he resisted.  
"Terk, listen to me," he bellowed while shaking her looking her in the eyes. "Just stop for 1 minute and listen!"  
"Give me your illness so that you won't leave me, we'll fart-up the nest together, therefore l'll get used to the smell and I'll rub your belly as long as you want while wearing the tiara, just don't leave" she anxiously floundered desiring him to stay with her.  
"Terk, I'm not sick. My friends and I pranked you," he revealed this earnestly.  
The female heard the bush close to their nest rustling. She turned towards the source and caught sight of Banagi and Keyta creeping out of it.  
"When I had lunch with them I ate a bunch of pears and an egg, that they had gathered, so that I could pass a lot of unpleasant gas to make the joke funnier," he explained. "You can take off the tiara now."  
"He got you good," exclaimed Banagi.  
"And those weird sounds that raised your attention weren't his guts, we had quite a hard time oppressing our laughter, it was us," Keyta shed light on this.  
"I don't know what to say..." said the female. "It wasn't funny to me, except the first fart when I didn't smell anything yet," she commented.  
"I hope I didn't go too far. You can take off the tiara now," reminded her Kong.  
"Oh, right," she replied gladly while removing it. "You went too far, it really bothered me when you started forsaking me, but what bugged me more is the thought of your going to another female's nest to stay while you're sick," she expounded, her tone cheerless.  
"Terk, I would never do that," stated King Kong sincerely. "I didn't think you would presume such things about me," he added, a bit disappointed.  
"Well, what you said and the way you acted made me suspect that," she retorted indignantly then, let out an angry sigh and scowled. "You should have seen yourself!"  
"Terk, I'm sorry," Kong asked for a pardon.  
"It's okay, but it'll take me time to calm down, I'm still anxious and tense," replied the female dismally.  
"Guys, would you please leave us, we'd like to be alone for the rest of the day," requested the male.  
King Kong's friends wondered back to their nests, Kong and Terk were left alone. The silverback crawled up to his female and embraced her. She returned the hug.  
"Maybe we should stop pranking each other, it always goes wrong for one of us," suggested Terk.  
"Yeah," agreed the silverback.  
The gorillas spent the evening conversing, while doing so the male occasionally let out his gas in a loud and creative way to make Terkina laugh.


	6. A night for a sacrifice

A night for a sacrifice

The gorilla troop had nested not far from the native peoples' dwellings for a few days. One cloudless night during a full moon the quiet atmosphere conveyed the chanting of the second half of King Kong's name and drum beating of the folks who were preparing a young virgin as a sacrifice to the mentioned ape.  
"Kong, you have an appearance to make," shouted Keyta.  
"I know. I'm not going alone this time," hollered back King Kong.  
He intended to journey down to the wall, on which the natives were standing, with Terk. He had already told her of the humans living here and the sacrifices offered to him when they had lived in the enclosure together in New York. She had never seen them nor their sacrificing before.  
"Are you ready to come with me," enquired the male.  
"Yes," answered Terk.  
They sauntered towards their destination which orange-yellow light radiating from the tribe's torches indicated. As they were approaching the dark skinned natives their music and chanting became more and more audible. The sight of lit torches, several folks dancing while in a trance, others beating drums, several others just standing and watching, an old white haired, wrinkled lady saying spells over the sacrifice, a young girl wearing a skull necklace, tied to a bridge unfolded. Soon King Kong and his wife became visible to the people. The bridge, which had the young woman bound to it, was lowered. The folks were dumbfounded by the sight of Terk as the apes drew nearer. They stopped making music and shouting "Kong," their eyes were glued on the overweight female situated next to the silverback. They ogled at her 1.5 meter length hair on her head which was erect, the second half of the hairs gradually leaned forward. They studied her greenish brown eyes being larger than standard sized beach balls, her thick lips, then, her body being smaller and less muscular than her husband's. King Kong hooted to earn the attention of the people. Now all eyes were on him. He looked at Terk then, back at the natives. He freed his sacrifice from the bridge and placed her among the members of her tribe. Several braver folks shot strange looks at him. Kong glanced at the people again then, at Terkina once more, then at the humans one last time. Finally he told his wife that they should head back to their nest. The couple turned their backs on the still silent folks and started roving home. During the trip they were conversing.  
"Kong, do you think I look strange? When those people first saw me they just stared at my hair for over a minute," enquired the female feeling unpleasant.  
"Your hair makes you look pretty unique, I really like it. The humans have never seen one of our species with this hairstyle before, moreover they had thought for a while that I had been the last of my species. I think what surprised them more was another of my kind showing up after a long time rather than your hair," explained the male.  
"Glad you like my hair," answered Terk feeling better.  
"By the way since you mentioned your hair you reminded me of my deformity that I was born with. It doesn't bother me by the way, I just wanted to bring this up so that you don't think you're the only one who has something that doesn't make them look average. As you have seen my jaw is asymmetrical. The right half of it sticks out a little more than the left and when I close my mouth my lower right canine protrudes out of my mouth naturally," explained Kong in hopes of consoling his wife even more.  
"Thanks," responded his mate. "I like your deformity, I think it makes you look tougher."  
"Thanks," answered the male.  
After having reached the nest they chatted for a short while then, fell asleep.


	7. The day after the sacrifice

The day after the sacrifice

In the morning after King Kong declined the sacrifice offered to him a group of 5 experienced hunters from the tribe set off to locate Kong. The humans' intention wasn't to hunt him or his mate down. They understood that their god had found a wife but his rejecting the sacrifice left them unsettled. The delegation was armed with spears for safety's sake and also brought a large bag of fruit with them for the male. The people were following the footprints the apes left during their previous visit which led them into the depths of the humid rainforest. They hadn't need to travel far when they stumbled upon Terk who was digging for roots.

In her peripheral field of vision see saw some small dark brown figures. She turned her head in the hunter's direction, the 5 natives glanced back at her. Her vision fixated on the sharp spears they were holding in their hands. She disliked the sight of their primitive weapons which caused her worry. As a result she ceased her searching for food and turned to face the humans so that her side wouldn't be exposed if she were to be attacked. She was keeping a sharp eye on the men. As they began drawing near she bore her fangs and glared at them as a warning. The startled representatives stopped proceeding and stayed still. Terk's face became smooth as normal again but she was still watching the hunters. The leader of the men reluctantly tried to approach the female but she angrily and loudly grunted at him scaring him to such an extent that he jumped up. Terk misunderstood his reaction as a challenge and unleashed a mad, vociferous roar which made the people feel gravely terrified. They quickly backed away pointing their spears at Terk while feeling vibrations increasing in strength spreading in the ground.

King Kong, who was hurrying to Terkina fearing for her physical integrity, became visible. He witness his wife standing on her fours looking at the tribe members, who were amazed and afraid simultaneously, who began chanting "Kong" over and over again. His attention was raised by the dark-skinned men but his wanting to know what interaction his wife had had with them was more important to him. Terk reported to him all that had happened and requested that his little friends leave her alone. Kong explained to her that she may be misunderstanding the delegation, they may mean no harm and they are here because of him.

He slowly crept closer to the hunters. They dumped his present out of the bag, stepped back from it then, bowed down to him. The male consumed the fruit then, lied down on his stomach in front the humans, the distance between his face and the men was only 3 meters.

The representatives lifted their heads, they were enthralled and speechless by the sight in front of them. Never have they been up close and personal with their god like this. Terkina, who was watching the interaction, crawled nearer to her husband and the folks. The latter instantly reacted by turning to her and pointing their spears in her direction. King Kong disapproved of their behavior towards his wife and expressed this by growling at the natives whilst narrowing his yellow eyes forming a snarl on his face. The hunters having espied this dropped their spears, the male's facial expression became calm again. Terk was offended by the negative way she had been treated by the tribe members noticing that her husband was respected and she wasn't, she continued foraging and eating where she left off.

About a minute later she heard singing that sounded similar to the song Old Dog by Beenie Man. The men were entertaining Kong who was enjoying the performance and reacted at the end with pleased gibbering.

One of them wandered back to the other people at home to spread the word about their encounter with their god. Soon, the large remainder of the humans, big and small, young and old, arrived at where the apes were situated. The whole tribe was ogling at King Kong in awe, they weren't really interested in his female. They began shouting the second part of his name repeatedly while some of them carrying an even more significant sack of fruit than the previous one approached him with care and laid the gift in front of him. He was glad to receive this offering, he gobbled it up speedily. The crowd was satisfied to see that their god was in a good mood.

A small portion of them began nearing the female who was visually studying them in the process. Having detected no weapons she let them come closer but she still harbored hurt feelings. She suddenly chose to lie down in the same position as her mate placing her bent legs close to her body. The group of about seven people consisting of a young man, 4 women and 2 children about the age of 10 gingerly went closer to her face. When the distance of a meter separated them from her the man sluggishly started reaching forward to touch her, both her and him were nervous. He succeeded in coming into physical contact with her, stroking her long, soot black, soft, wooly fur on her cheek. This aroused positive feelings in her, she was joyed by their finally treating her with honor and kindness. A long-haired, lighter skinned, dark brown-eyed, plump woman about the age of 30 joined the man in showing Terk affection. She tried scratching her under the chin, as an outcome Terkina lifted her head to make that part of her more easily accessible. She loved what the girl was doing to her, stretched her neck forward and closed her eyes like a cat when it is touched the same way. A short while later she rolled on her side. She received strokes, scratches and rubs from various people on her face, under the chin, on her neck, on the upper part of her chest, and on her belly. She was in ecstasy.

The ratio of the tribe that wasn't occupied with pampering Terk began touching their god in the same way they did the female. He was also enjoying the treatment. After about an hour the natives got ready to leave and grouped up in front of the apes. They chanted "Kong" a couple of times in unison then, glanced at Terkina and back at King Kong for help.  
"Terk," managed to say the silverback almost in perfect human tongue and looked at his female.  
The humans hollered "Terk" a few times then, left in the good faith that their god and new goddess were pleased with them and not fueled with negativity towards them.


	8. Strange things are happening

Strange things are happening

It seemed this morning that an ordinary day started on Skull Island. King Kong and Terk were still asleep not knowing what they day would bring for them and for some other troop members. The male was abruptly roused by Isuku shaking him.  
"Kong, wake up! You've got to see this," said Isuku with urgency in his tone.  
The black back's cousin opened his eyes, the sight of Isuku, Banagi and Keyta accepted him.  
"What is it," he asked then, yawned gaping open his mouth, showing his large teeth.  
Terkina gradually drifted out of dreamland hearing the dialogue.  
"We're not telling you, I don't think you've seen anything like this before," boasted Keyta. "Terk, this may be too disturbing for you," he mentioned.  
"I want to know what you have seen," replied Terk curiously while sitting up.  
"Okay, but I warned you," responded the male seriously whilst a little melodiously.  
"Follow us," instructed Banagi.  
The five gorillas crept through the dense jungle, sticks snapped on the ground, shrubs and branches brushed against their long, black fur coats while rustling. Finally, they arrived at the edge of the rainforest, a meadow with brontosauruses grazing in it could be seen. Some of their offspring chased each other around carelessly.  
"Look right there," directed Keyta while pointing to one of the hatchlings.  
The mentioned specimen looked a bit different from its peers. Its whole body belonged to the average category except for its head.  
"Its forehead is higher than the others', so what," reacted King Kong disappointedly in a raised tone.  
"But you should see it when it faces you," replied Banagi.  
About a minute later the mutant dinosaur turned towards the apes. Kong's jaw dropped, his eyes widened in amazement and horror.  
"EEEEEEEEEEWWW!" screamed Terk in terror while looking away after noticing the deformity.  
The brontosaurus had the birth defect of cyclopia which resulted it having one abnormally large weird-looking eye on its forehead.  
"I want to leave," exclaimed the female while deliberately avoiding setting her gaze on the malformed reptile.  
Her husband was still busy ogling at the little brontosaurus. She shook him as she called his name.  
"Dang, woman, you scared the crap out of me," he shouted displeased at her.  
"Really!? And that thing didn't scare you," she angrily yelled back at him out of offense and desiring to leave.  
'You sometimes drive me crazy when you're on your period,' he wanted to say, but didn't, it would be oil on the fire of Terk's negative behavior if he were to embarrass her at that time in front of his male friends. She was hormonal, more sensitive and more impatient than usual during that part of her cycle. The more pain she felt the greater the latter manifested.  
"Fine," replied King Kong in an annoyed tone.  
The gorillas started heading home. During the journey about halfway to their nests a loud thud was heard. The males immediately turned to the source, Terkina was lying on the ground on her side unconsciously, her were limbs stretched out, perpendicular to her body. Kong sat by her, grabbed her making her sit up, held her in one of his muscular arms, while lightly slapping her face with his other hand whilst saying her name. Terk shortly regained consciousness.  
"What happened," she asked still dazed a little.  
"You fainted," responded her mate in a worried voice.  
"I don't feel good..." she responded quietly. "I'm weak and my lower belly really hurts," she added wincing in pain.  
"Has the fainting happened before when you were on... you know," enquired Kong nervously.  
"Yes, one time in New York before we met. I'm having the same symptoms as I had back then," she answered.  
"Can you crawl, or shall I carry you," he asked.  
"I can go, thanks," she replied gratefully.  
Terk slowly got up, she managed to make it back to the troop with the males.  
At around noon the light conditions began changing, it started getting dark sooner than usual. King Kong, Terk and a few other members of the troop wondered out of the jungle to the seashore. They were shocked by the sight unfolding in front of them: a mothership shelf cloud was heading towards the inland. The bottom shelf, having a sharp contour between its lighter and much darker tattered underside, was the largest of the shelfies. The other shelfies situated above it varied in thickness and color. The wind picked up, the apes' fur rippled like grass. As the tip of the storm cloud reached the space above the gorillas' head the lighting grew weaker so it seemed like it was late in the evening and one of the specimens noticed rotation on part of the nimbus's underside located above the ocean. He let everyone know what he was witnessing, all heads pointed in the direction of the phenomenon. A funnel began to form, which slowly and gradually reached toward the ocean as the speed of the spinning motion enhanced. Soon the water spout was complete which was greedily sucking up water and heading towards the beach.  
"If that thing reaches us we'll learn to fly," joked Isuku.  
"We'd look pretty stupid," answered Kong. "We'd be jigging while being spun around and then dropped someplace else."  
Isuku began laughing. As the aquatic tornado was drawing near and the strength of the gusts were increasing the apes quickly retreated back to their nests. At the end of the trip Terk collapsed in the nest. King Kong held her close and tried waking her. She slowly became conscious again.  
"What happened," she feebly asked.  
"You blacked out again," answered the silverback. "Luckily for us it didn't happen when we were on the shore or heading home," he added sort of relieved but worry dominated in him.  
Thunder, snapping of branches and the rustling of the foliage caused by gale disturbed the quietness. The vehement cloudburst started, along with larger than regular raindrops baseball-sized hail abruptly and violently punctured the layer of the trees' verdure. The hailstones didn't pose as threats to the adults but were dangerous to smaller offspring especially infants, whom their mothers leaned over to protect them from the impacts. Fish previously sucked up by the water spout began falling, a portion of them were still alive. From behind the twisting branches of the trees King Kong witnessed a huge, lone pteranodon flying desperately searching for a place to take cover get struck by lightning. The smoking animal swiftly descended nearly vertically and slammed to the ground with a crunch in front of Kong and his mate.  
"Terk, are you hungry," asked the male.  
"Yeah," she answered.  
"I suggest you eat it. After the storm ends, I'm going foraging, I think you had better stay in the nest."  
The female neared the creature and began consuming its flesh. Soon, the dreaded downpour ended and the wind ceased. Broken off boughs, fish and pieces of leaves which had been forcefully torn out by the hail covered the ground. The birds began chirping again. King Kong left his wife, who decided to try to take a nap, and went looking for food with Isuku and some of his friends. Kong's cousin eagerly ventured further from his party having caught sight of a tree bearing a lot of mangoes. He skillfully climbed up the trunk and squatted on the lowest and biggest branch in diameter. He didn't enjoy the feeling of having to urinate while eating, that would have deprived him of his joy of the consumption of his meals. He hadn't noticed that his cousin and friends caught up with him and were located under him ready to ascend. The unseeing Isuku began peeing while letting out a satisfied sigh.  
"Isuku," shouted the other apes in a harsh tone who were rained on by the pee shower.  
The black back got startled, stopped peeing and fell down on one of his peers.  
"How was I supposed to know you were under me," he retorted.  
"Get off of me already, you dweeb," shouted the black back pinned under Isuku.  
"Okay, doofus," replied Kong's cousin while removing himself. "Some privacy please," he requested as he hid behind a tree to finish his business where he left off.

After returning, he joined his fellow gorillas positioned on different parts of the tree harvesting mangoes.  
Terkina still didn't succeed in falling asleep due to her great menstrual pain, she had tried that in several positions to no avail. Her attention was immediately raised by a loud argument and the cries of a child.  
"Get away from me and our boy! I don't want to mate with you," yelled Amal.  
"Then, I'll make you get into estrus," roared Sharam while shooting a loathsome look at his son.  
Kesho was wailing while shedding tears. His mother, terrified by his father's words, was standing above him on all fours, the kid receded away from his father in unison with his mother. A few other silverbacks hastily showed up and tried talking the arrogant male out of courting the female.  
Kong's wife sat up and glanced in the direction of the voices. She saw Sharam creeping towards Amal and Kesho. One younger silverback snuck up behind him, suddenly wrapped his arm around his neck and while holding him firmly tried pulling him back from the boy's mother. Sharam was now trying to free himself from the male's grip,  
"Gallop, Kesho," she shouted to her son.  
The youngster having caught sight of Terk sped towards her while his father elbowed the silverback which kept him bound which released him due to getting the wind knocked out of him. Kesho, who was disconsolately weeping, finally reached the female, who rubbed her face against his tear-streaked one then, picked him up and held him close. The boy embedded himself into her fur. His enraged father arrived, with the other silverbacks and Amal in his tracks, glaring at Terk with his dark brown piercing eyes. The male was about the same age and height as King Kong but was brutal and more ill-tempered. A set of 3 deep pinkish coral scars parallel to each other lined a part of his chest. Several smaller scars similar in color decorated various body parts of his.  
"Give me the boy," he coarsely and loudly roared closing in on the female.  
Terk became wide-eyed out of fear.  
"Don't let him have him, he wants to kill him," screamed Amal dismayed while sobbing.  
Terkina got up on threes, she tightly held Kesho in one arm against her chest and belly. She was backing away at the same pace as the male with the intent of murder, was crawling towards her. Luckily for her and the child the other dominant males reached the opposing parties and together they overpowered the rogue one in a short battle slamming him to the ground. They didn't stop there: a few of them held the faulty silverback by his limbs while the others with Amal surrounded him and were intensely punching him. From time to time, the sinful specimen cried out in pain. Terk, now having regained most of her peace sat down placing the youngster on her shoulder and chest. Kesho was happy to see his father receiving the punishment he deserved.  
"Aunt Terk, why does my daddy want to kill me," asked Kesho sorrowfully.  
King Kong's wife remained silent for a couple of seconds to think her answer over. She knew that children his age are familiar with the terms of mating being the way babies are made. She was unsure about them knowing how the reproductive cycle of females work and what estrus is.  
"He wants to mate with your mother," she answered.  
"Why does that have to involve killing me? Can't my daddy and my mommy leave me at someone else's nest to be looked after when they mate," he enquired not having a complete knowledge of the situation.  
After Terk did a bit of contemplating she answered.  
"When a female has a child she doesn't want to mate, but there are cases when a female abandons her child to be with a silverback, but this is rare. Your mom doesn't want to leave you by the way, she loves you and she has become a better parent ever since I had that talk with her. Your mommy, how should I say this... she isn't ready to mate again since she's raising you and won't be ready until you're fully independent. Your daddy knows this and wants to get rid of you so that your mommy will be ready to mate again," she expounded.  
"Why does my daddy want to mate with my mommy," asked Kesho. "Does he want my mommy to have another baby?"  
"I don't think his main goal is another baby, just mating with your mommy for pleasure. I think he is lusting after her. I mean he doesn't love her he just wants to mate with her and won't take no as an answer if she rejects him. That's not love, that's lust, which is about trying to get what you want to get from someone regardless if that someone wants to or doesn't want to give you what you desire from him or her. Love isn't about trying to fulfill your desires with someone if that someone doesn't want that. Love takes no as an answer, even letting one go if that one doesn't want a relationship with you. Love doesn't try to force others to do what you want them to do, love is not arrogant, love contains respect which also includes respecting another's free will. Love includes treating one how you want to be treated, it has zero negative intentions," explained Terkina.  
King Kong, his cousin, Isuku, and his friends arrived home to the scene of Terk sitting in the nest holding Kesho whilst conversing with him and some silverbacks with Amal grouped around Sharam holding him down and hitting him near the nest.  
"What's going on here," enquired one of Kong's friends.  
Amal noticed his half-brother and his company. Before she rushed to them she gave a final powerful blow to Sharam's face which resulted in a painful roar.  
"Sharam wanted to mate with me, I didn't want to, then, he wanted to kill Kesho so that I would get into estrus again so that he would be able to have his way with me. Now, he is getting punished for this," she briefly described the situation.  
"Why are you all except Isuku soaking wet," wondered Terk.  
"A stupid accident happened to us. When we were searching for food Isuku having discovered a fruitful mango tree strayed away driven by the sight. He climbed to the lowest branch. We didn't suspect what he was about to do and were right under him when we wanted to climb up. He didn't know we were under him. He squatted and ended up urinating on us. Since we were so hungry we decided to fill our stomachs first then, head down to the beach to cleanse ourselves of the pee in the ocean. When we reached the shore we saw a few trees twisted out of the ground and a path carved in the sand starting from the water ending at those trees. We concluded that that was the trail of the water spout. We also saw a lot of beached dolphins and a few whales among them, some were still breathing, some were already dead. We carried the live ones into the water to save them, but some returned and beached themselves again. We didn't understand this and had to rescue them again. After setting the live ones free in the water we washed ourselves. Some of the dolphins swam around us while chirping and put on a show. They jumped out of the water in creative ways. A few of them even let us pet them," reported King Kong.  
Terkina imagined the events described by Kong and thought the unintentional one was funny. She found the interactions with the mentioned sea creatures interesting.  
The beating of Sharam ceased, but he was still held in place by his arms and legs. The leading silverbacks, the oldest and most experienced males known as the elders arrived. King Kong's uncle was among them. Several witnesses including Amal and Terk testified against Kesho's father proving by what they had witnessed and heard. The verdict of the elders was guilty, the older silverbacks inflicted the penalty of banishment from the troop on Sharam for attempted murder of Kesho. The punished male was released, he slowly roved off into the depths of the jungle, from this point on they counted him as an exile, a persona non grata. Amal was joyed that Kesho's father was now out of the picture and thanked everyone who helped her for impeding the forced mating with her and the taking away of her son's life. She appreciated Terk's actions in keeping Kesho safe, being with him during this hard time. She returned to her nest with her boy assured that his father won't cause her nor her son any trouble any longer.


	9. The beginning of a new friendship

The beginning of a new friendship

One cloudy, muggy afternoon King Kong and Terkina were sitting in their nest and were in the middle of a funny discussion.  
"So Isuku was showing symptoms of a cold and sneezed 10 times in a row. The more he sneezed the more serious illnesses we mentioned to him. We started with the common cold, then diagnosed him with intestinal parasites and sciatica for fun, then we claimed this was pneumonia paired with sciatica and at the 10th sneeze we shouted at once: E-bolaaaaaaaa," reported the silverback. "Then we suggested that he should go near Rafiki, the oldest elder of the troop, and ask him to lift his arm. When Rafiki lifts his arm, the awful smell is released from the glands in his armpit, which is so putrid, that it kills everything that causes disease," he continued.  
The female, being a visual type, imagined the scenes and laughed as a result.  
"And have you tried curing yourself that way," enquired Terk with a grin on her face in hopes of receiving a humorous answer.  
"Yes, one time I did. When my throat was inflamed I went to Rafiki. I was 3 meters away from him. The second he exposed his armpit I felt the yellow, smoke-like substance collide with my face like a wind then, passed out due to the revolting stench. When I woke up the sun was setting already and I felt itchy all over my body. After closely looking into my fur I realized I was infested with lice! The front that had come out of his armpit had transported lice into it that had reproduced in hours. Maybe the old one's lice reproduce so quickly because they come into contact with the substance responsible for the smell and that significantly shortens their reproductive cycle. I had to bathe in the ocean for hours to get rid of those pests. As I was trying to scratch them off while soaking the water began turning light grey and cloudy around me. That's when I realized I was successful in removing the lice, but it doesn't end here. Soon, I was surrounded by a school of small fish eager to have an easy meal. They began gobbling up the critters, as soon as they ended up in fish's mouths, the fish's eyes bugged out and the fish disappointedly spat them out. Those who swallowed them immediately died and turned over. Then, the bigger fish arrived and began consuming the lice and the little fish. The majority of them, who ate the dead fish and lice, deceased. Next came even larger fish and ocean birds. They were very happy to see food around me that they didn't have to work for. As they began feeding and caught witness of some of their mates dying they turned against me. One exceptionally large fish swam up to my face, turned around and began slapping it with its tail, while the birds started pecking me and the other fish were diligently biting my butt. That's when I left the sea," explained Kong.  
Terk chuckled. After she finished the silverback began scratching her under the chin with one finger. His mate really enjoyed this, closed her eyes and exposed the area where she was being touched even more. She didn't notice that a female was nearing her and her husband. Her husband caught sight of her but ignored her.  
"Hi," greeted the young gorilla girl.  
Terkina got startled out of her bliss and instantly shifted her attention towards the female. The specimen was a bit younger than her, had a similar weight and height as Terk and was studying the couple with curious brownish yellow eyes.  
"Hello," said King Kong.  
"You scared the dickens out of me," exclaimed Terk with a bit of anger.  
"Sorry! You're Terk, right," enquired the female shyly.  
"Yes," replied Kong's mate. "Why do you ask," she wondered.  
"I remember you from Indira's welcome baby party. Do you remember me? I smiled at you a few times after hearing your reactions to the other ladies' words. I began feeling better because of your replies, finding out that I'm not the only one who is on that same wavelength regarding relationships and having children. Currently I'm looking for a mate," she expounded kindly but nervously. "By the way my name's Inkesha, I'm Mirindi's daughter. We may look quite alike but we're totally different on the inside. Not long after my troop became one with your troop and the other ones and when getting acquainted with the members of the other troops some of them thought we are sisters," she added now less sheepishly.  
It began dawning on Terk as she replayed the memories in her mind that the female speaking with her was indeed the one who had sent signals of agreement to her and encouraged her with them as well.  
"I remember you. I had suspicions you differed from the others. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks differently than them regarding certain topics. Good luck finding a mate," she replied. "How do you get along with your mother," she asked wanting to know what a mother-daughter relationship is like with the related ones significantly differing in mindset.  
"I don't know if I'm ever going to find a monogamous life-mate. The males just mate with different females for baby-making and pleasure coupled with lust not out of true love. How did you and Kong meet? When I began maturing my mother started teaching me the female's way of life. She had explained to me the same things she told you at the welcome baby party. After that, I got scared realizing her thoughts about males, mating and reproduction are different than mine, but I managed to squeeze my own views out of myself. I shocked her with this causing her to remain speechless. As time went by she tried several times to convert me to her beliefs but I clung to my own. Eventually, we both realized that if we want our relationship to remain good we are going to have to accept each other's opinions and stop bringing up these delicate topics over and over again in hopes of persuading one another. So we agreed that these themes are taboo and have left them out of our discussions ever since," explained Inkesha.  
"The way Kong and I met is an interesting story. I didn't live on Skull Island, Kong was abducted by humans and transported to a place called New York, where I lived in an enclosure. He was situated and chained in a place called a theater. In a theater people gather together to watch other people perform stories by acting. By the way New York is inhabited by humans. Kong escaped from the building, he was on a rampage while looking for a blue-eyed, blond-haired human female named Ann. After they had found each other I was hurrying towards them with one of my keepers, a person named Tarzan, behind me. I was entrusted with the task of luring Kong into my dwelling place so that he doesn't get killed by humans armed with weapons since he was counted very dangerous to them. We reached Kong and Ann, Tarzan signaled to me with his hands. He commanded me to show body language in order to make Kong fall for me. He got love drunk, lost interest in Ann and wanted to mate with me. I galloped into the enclosure with him closely following me, my other keepers shut the gates afterwards to block his escape. I tried showing him that I don't want to court him by continuing in trying to avoid him. It didn't work and I tired out. I turned to face him and made dismayed screams. It had no effect on him, he got up on his hind legs to hug me. I tried pushing him away but he was too strong and held me tightly. I really hated what was happening to me, shortly I got the idea of punching him in the face. I did that powerfully and he let go of me. He was very surprised, after a few seconds he expressed the rage he felt towards me. It was a pretty terrifying sight, he madly roared at me while vehemently beating on his chest then, punched the ground, looked at me broken heartedly then, sauntered away. I hated him for trying to have his way with me. He hated me for acting like I wanted to have sex previously then, rejecting him and not giving him what he wanted. He didn't know that I acted that way to lure him into the enclosure to rescue him from getting murdered. That night we slept in the two farthest points in our living place as distant as can be from each other. So these are the events that happened on the day that we met," reported Terk.  
"How did you make peace," asked Inkesha.  
"This started when Terk gave me a bag of fruit. She was bribed to do it by Tarzan who gave her her favorite snack in return. Then, I presented her with a cluster of bananas due to my feeling indebted to her. That's when we began speaking to each other. It was a rocky start I was still mad at her and felt offended, I acted coarse with her. She tried telling me that she was part of a rescue mission in hopes of preventing me from getting shot down. She proved it to me by mentioning my behavior and my killing humans when I was berserk. She was right but I was too ashamed to let her know that and roved off. I finally decided to admit that at the end of a long talk I had with her that night. From that point on we conversed on a regular basis and got to know each other better and better. We became friends, then boyfriend and girlfriend, then husband and wife that is life-mates," expounded King Kong.  
"So you two were locked up together hated each other and became life mates? That is amazing, I mean if two complete strangers of the opposite sex are locked up how small could the probability of that be that they turn out to be soulmates? It could have backfired," replied Inkesha enthralled.  
"Yes, that's true. We started realizing that there's a high chance for a serious relationship when I went into estrus the first time ever since Kong was living with me. I had it planned out that I'd try to interact with him the least as possible. I was less chatty and gave short answers at breakfast when we were conversing. Kong found my behavior strange and enquired about it. I told him that we shouldn't spend time with each other for a few days. He thought he had hurt my feelings. I told him he didn't. I was tense because I didn't know how he'd react to my being in heat whether he'd try to force me to mate with him or not. I said to him that I don't want to get pregnant and have children. He was amazed and mentioned that this isn't bad and added that this is awesome news for a one-lady male who doesn't want kids either. I assumed he was referring to himself, I felt better and thought that we may become life-mates in the future. However I mentioned this wasn't the secret I was thinking of. Having known he doesn't want to found a family I finally told him I was in estrus. I mentioned that when I'm lovesick it's best that we stay apart," explained Terkina.  
"And how do you manage estrus here among the troop? You don't have to answer if this is unpleasant for you, just wondering how to manage this when you're living in a band with your mate," enquired the female.  
"We don't sleep in the nest together. I snooze in the nest, Kong sleeps a bit farther from me out of touching range. We spend a lot of time together but in our circle of friends and take part in activities with them that keep me occupied. We avoid physical contact such as play fighting and showing affection. If I can't stand it and try loving Kong he slaps me, I let him do it so that I come to my senses. He does it as much as it's needed increasing the hits in power. He has an easier time when I'm in estrus than I do, since I'm going through it and he isn't, I'm more easily tempted than him," expounded King Kong's wife.  
"So slapping is effective against lovelornness," questioned Inkesha seriously.  
"Yes," assured Terk. "It'll snap you out of it in a split second."  
"Good to know," reacted the lone female happily. "Would you both like to come over to the place under my nest this afternoon," enquired the brownish yellow-eyed female.  
"I do," responded Terk.  
"Me too," replied King Kong.  
During the visitation the three apes got more acquainted with each other and discovered they have several things in common besides the views of male-female relationships including humor and activities.


	10. Traumas

Traumas

King Kong and Terkina were peacefully sleeping in their nest when the male started having a lucid dream. In it he just woke up from slumbering and expected to find himself on Skull Island but was boggled when he found out he wasn't lying but sitting in a completely alien environment to him: a theater. As he came to his senses his vision sharpened and he experienced the sounds increasing in volume and audibility. Due to the extremely sharp contrast between his dwelling place and the interior of this building, which he found to be far from what he calls home, he became appalled, moreover the loud music, which was pretty foreign to him, played by the orchestra and the actress's (who played Ann) screaming bothered him to the extent that he began bellowing and twisting out of protest to break free from his chains. His arms were bound to two posts on the stage and his body was kept in place by a ring around his waist connected to the floor. Several men in black tuxedo suits began taking pictures of him which was the final nail in the coffin regarding his turmoil and rage. The silverback went insane and put a much better effort in trying to free himself, he violently thrashed while roaring clamorously and savagely.  
Terk got sprung out of her sleep when she heard her husband's loud cry.  
"Kong, wake up," she exclaimed while shaking her mate.  
Having noticed this failed to force him out of the nightmare she began smacking his face. The male opened his eyes and was taken aback by the advanced darkness surrounding him.  
"Terk, I had that horrid dream again," he groaned whilst still wheezing having recognized his wife's voice.  
"I'm sorry to hear that," said the female empathetically as she leaned on her husband and rubbed her face against his to comfort him. Kong in return wrapped his arms around her. The female felt that his heart was still racing. She straightened up from her position as King Kong gradually released her.  
"I don't think you've fully processed the trauma of what had happened to you in the theater yet. Maybe this is why this dream keeps returning. Do you want to talk about your negative experience already," offered Terkina as she had before several times when her mate had relived the awful events in that nightmare.  
The male wasn't in the mood to discuss this matter as usual. He emitted a loud sigh.  
"Okay, fine," replied the silverback in an annoyed voice stressing the second word. "I don't want this but if it'll stop the dream from reoccurring I'm in," he added in a softer tone.  
"Alright," responded Terk. "I think you'll feel better. Remember the time when I was almost artificially inseminated? After we talked about our experiences about being in the weighing room in our enclosure you concluded and revealed to me that they planned to impregnate me and Tarzan was also in this. I had crying spells and nightmares about this for a week. I thought it would be over by then but it turned out I wasn't fully through I had the same reoccurring dreams until I acknowledged the pain Tarzan caused me and wept that out. The working up ended there but I still had spiritual, physical and emotional symptoms due to dreading it would happen again and demolish the kind of relationship we have carefully built up and preserved."

Flashback:  
One time when Terk was in heat Tarzan and the other keepers called King Kong into the weighing room. After the male entered he caught sight of a container filled with a sweet smelling orange liquid, a thin, hollow rod-like structure about 3 meters in length on the floor and a large basin. They let him know by hand gestures that they had prepared a special drink for him which was in a receptacle situated on the floor. The male lifted the vessel and tasted the fluid. The aroma of it reminded him of mangoes, his favorite fruit, it had a slightly syrupy texture, a sweet and exotic scent with a touch of vanilla. As it slid down his throat it slightly burned it but this didn't bother him, he chugged it down and licked the container clean. Soon, he began feeling tipsy, then he started having vision problems, lost coordination and felt drowsy. He remembered the humans closing in on him, before he was about to fall asleep, and placing the bowl under his private area and doing something with his genitals. Hours later he woke up hungover with a splitting headache. The people, the holder and the basin were all gone. The door was open and Kong roved out still feeling woozy. He reached Terk and reported to her everything the people including Tarzan did to him. Terkina was shocked and didn't believe her friend participated in these acts. Tarzan hurried towards the apes and signaled to the gorilla lady that a surprise awaits her in the weighing chamber. Kong advised his wife not to go into the room but the female trusted the man. Terk was being led by her main caretaker like an unsuspecting lamb to the slaughterhouse. Having worries for his mate the silverback followed them. The female entered, the door was shut. King Kong peered through one of the windows, he could clearly see what was happening. First, Terk was presented with some chocolate which she happily devoured. Then she received commandments one after another which she unseeingly obeyed. She had to lay down in a way which her bottom faced the rod-like instrument previously mentioned, which one of the keepers was now partially covering with Vaseline, and spread her legs apart. The male found the unfolding events strange and started to feel an urge to barge in and extract his wife. However he kept watching. A man came into the place through a little door with a large towel and a 5 liter bottle of chloroform which he hastily opened. As this was happening a ladder was placed right next to Terk's head. The man soaked the towel in the substance then, hurried to the gorilla, climbed the ladder and spread the towel on her nose. Having inhaled the chemical Terkina blacked out. After making sure she was unconscious the men lifted the inseminator on their shoulders and began nearing her buttocks. Kong instantly suspected that the keepers want to insert the rod into his wife's vagina. He swiftly backed away from the door, charged then, body slammed it resulting in it suddenly getting knocked off its hinges. It descended and partially landed on the female. The people were gravely frightened, dropped the instrument and retreated through the more insignificant door from which the person carrying the chloroform and towel came through. As the rod impacted the concrete ground a crack formed on it and white liquid began oozing out of it creating a puddle. Kong having witnessed this deducted that the caretakers had obtained sperm from him and had planned to inseminate his mate with it. His discovery horrified him. He broke the tool to make sure it would never be attempted to be used on Terk again then, dragged the still sleeping Terk out into the middle of their enclosure. He was holding her in his arms when the female regained consciousness.  
"What happened," she asked.  
"What do you remember," enquired Kong.  
"Our keepers gave me chocolate. After I ate it one of them signaled to me to lay down and spread my legs apart. That's all I remember for now," she answered. "Between that and my awakening I don't know what I went through."  
"I saw everything you experienced. You can't recall what you missed because you were unconscious. One of our caretakers knocked you out with the same liquid that made me black out when I was abducted from Skull Island. I recognized it by the jar. When you were comatose the men, even Tarzan, lifted that 3 meter rod, which had some substance spread on a part of it before, off the ground and wanted to shove it into your vagina. As they were approaching you, I broke in through the shut door knocking it out of place. The humans dropped the object and retreated out of the room through a different entrance. The instrument fell and cracked. "White stuff" seeped out of the fissure. I remembered the keepers had done something with my male parts when I was drunk and concluded that that was my seed which they had extracted from me then and put it in the rod. They wanted to get you pregnant! I broke the rod so that they wouldn't be able to use it again then, pulled you out to where we are right now then, you regained consciousness again," reported the silverback.  
Terkina felt petrified by the news, she became wide-eyed then, started grievingly and bitterly crying her eyes out whilst feeling emotionally and spiritually tormented. From that point on the female terminated her friendship with Tarzan, both apes distrusted humans and never went into the weighing room even if commanded. Even a few weeks after the traumatic experience they kept up with their ranting in sign language expressing their opinions about the incident and arousing their feelings such as anger, disappointment and sadness in their partners in communication. Some of their messages they kept repeating:  
"We told you before we want no children, is this too high for you to understand?"  
"Why have you done this to us? Without our consent why did you attempt to force your will on us? You stole our freedom of choice, got me drunk and molested me! What did we do to deserve this?"  
"Tarzan, I am VERY disappointed in you! I thought we were best friends... Best friends don't oblige each other into things ESPECIALLY SERIOUS things that would GREATLY affect other things in the future! Well, congratulations, you just lost a close friend, well done. I think that you and your fellow colleagues assume we are dumb animals too unintelligent to decide what kind of relationship we want and that it doesn't matter to us what kind of relationship we are in, even wanting kids or not. Well, we are CLEVERER than you think, we are brainy enough to PLAN and MAKE CHOICES regarding our relationship. Speaking of decisions I'm not taking you back as a friend no matter how much chocolate you would give me. I wouldn't take a single bite out of it knowing it's from YOU!"  
"I don't want to be here anymore. I want to return to Skull Island. Even Terk wants this not knowing she'll survive. She told me that she'd rather die in a dinosaur attack than living her life in misery here. Yes, you made her miserable and depressed, you made her cry and have horrible dreams for a week and a half. You've caused us torments when we NEVER induced you suffering. We obeyed your commands. We let you have us act in films to make you earn money. And what do we get? First, you introduce another female of our species into our dwelling place without asking us whether we want a third gorilla or not in our relationship. Why have you done this when you have witnessed over and over again how happy we are together? Her staying here was torture for us especially for Terk. We stayed outside our enclosure for a week with a stranger in it who had tried to seduce me before. Didn't you consider that she may destroy our good marriage? Second, you steal sperm from me and try to get Terk pregnant without enquiring whether we want a baby or not, when you should have noticed that we don't mate when Terk's in estrus and should have concluded that we don't want to reproduce! Speaking of Terk, look at her! She's nearly underweight, she's not eating properly, she's depressed and she's living in fear! I hardly recognize her anymore, it's as if most of her died. YOU CAUSED THIS YOU'RE SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY KILLING MY WIFE AND AS A RESULT ME AS WELL!"  
The most recent message from King Kong was the final one, the one that made the keepers act and the deterioration of Terkina's physical and mental health contributed to their actions as well. The humans gathered around the apes, apologized and promised them that they will transport them to Skull Island, but first they will nurse the female back to health so that she will be strong enough for the journey. They kept their word and this is how King Kong and Terk ended up on Skull Island.  
End of flashback.

As the previously mentioned past events played in the silverback's mind, he began sobbing, but tried to keep it in.  
"It's better if you grieve and cry it out. That nightmare may never come back. It's okay to cry, there's nothing shameful about it," encouraged Terkina.  
"It's not what happened in the theater this time..." Kong pressed out. "It has to do with the artificial insemination memory," he floundered then, sat up and wept harder right after mentioning that not being able to speak.  
His female embraced him as he let out a quiet groan and he continued shedding tears on her shoulder.  
"Would you like to tell me what part of that incident makes you cry," she asked.  
"Yeah," replied Kong when he was able to.  
Minutes later his weeping ceased and he began opening up about his sadness.  
"Terk, it really darkened me when I had seen you spiral into depression and fear, eat little and lose a lot of weight. You were hardly anything like your normal self and I was scared that you would never return to your original mental, emotional and physical state. I was really stressed out and doleful about this and also about whether we will be able to continue our lives on Skull Island or not due to your state and not knowing whether that promise was a lie or not. This time was very rough for me as well," he confessed as another wave of loathsome mournfulness overtook him which resulted in further tearful grieving.  
"Kong, I didn't know that this had such a dire effect on you. I know you were saddened but not this much. I'm really sorry about what I caused unintentionally," replied his wife on the verge of tears.  
Soon she was weeping with her husband while clinging together with him having been fueled by sorrow towards him. After crying themselves out they kept silent for a while.  
"Kong is there anything else you'd like to share with me," Terkina enquired moaning a little.  
"This is all that came to my mind regarding the artificial insemination incident," he replied. "I still feel shaken..." he added.  
"You may have negative feelings and crying spells for a while even bad dreams, but it'll go away with time. This goes along with the healing journey. You've just started it by sharing your thoughts and feelings with me and releasing those bottled-up emotions. You shouldn't rush your healing and remember that it's not a shame to cry. If you feel like you have to do it, do it. You may have to do this several times. It may take weeks to fully recover, at times it takes months or years. Be patient with yourself. If something comes to your mind that's bothering you still you can share it with me," informed Terk in a warm tone. "I think we should postpone the discussion about your trauma in the theater for another time whenever you want to, even right after you wake up from its nightmare. Let's take one step at a time," she advised.  
"Okay," responded the male. "Thanks."  
"You're welcome," replied his mate.  
The gorillas continued their sleep.  
It took months for the silverback to process the traumatic events that he experienced in the enclosure and in the theater. Taking Terk's advice and with Terk's help his emotional and spiritual wounds healed.


	11. Inkesha's first time with friends part 1

Inkesha's first time with friends part 1

One for noon the troop was foraging. Some of the apes were sitting on treeless patches of ground eating grasses, another portion of them was digging the moist, dark, fertile soil for roots, others gathered edible berries from shrubs and bushes, a few groups of them were situated on trees and consuming fruit. And a small circle of funny males consisting of Banagi, Keyta and Isuku were excited to go insect and crustacean hunting. The two silverbacks and the black back were creeping, while conversing, towards Kong and Terk who were about to join the other members in searching for food. When they arrived into King Kong's and Terkina's field of vision they were laughing.  
"What's so funny," asked Kong.  
"We saw something funny happen to the Old," replied Banagi while smiling. "The Old had eaten too much fermented fruit, he still doesn't know his limits," he added while shaking his head.  
"He looked interesting after the children placed grass then, strong-scented flowers, ones which bees love, in the layer of grass on him and behind his ears. Then, the kids hid behind the nearby bush and waited," chimed in Isuku.  
"They didn't have to wait long until the bees started flying around him. Then, a bumblebee chose the flower behind his ear and buzzed in it. He woke up frightened and got even more scared when he realized he was sheathed with grass and flowers and bees were circling around him. He began to panic and shook the plants off of him which the bees perceived as threatening behavior towards them. They retaliated by flying around him angrily and wildly, they began stinging him," continued Keyta.  
"He hollered, leapt up while swiftly jigging then, bolted all of the sudden followed by a small cloud of enraged bees. The kids loved this, they were heehawing! We also thought it was humorous," finished Banagi then, shifted to the intended topic. "Do you two want to come with us to the nearby insect pit and catch weta-rexes, arachno-claws and deplectors," he enquired with a grin on his face.  
"I'm in. I haven't had those in a long time," responded King Kong enthusiastically.  
"Me too," replied Terkina excitedly.  
Inkesha instantly came to her mind, she thought that she may find the activity of hunting for the mentioned creatures interesting and their flesh delicious.  
"Guys, may I invite Inkesha," she asked. "She's a new friend of mine, we have similar traits," she added.  
"I just imagined what she looks like," reacted Banagi while smiling, "like you without that long hair on top of your head."  
Terk didn't smile nor frown in response. After a bit of thinking about the older male's strange opinion and her friend's appearance she concluded that the silverback was somewhat right.  
"Well, we do have several things in common regarding looks, but excluding our hair on our heads she's still not identical to me," she answered. "Now can I invite her or not? I'd better hurry before it's too late for her," she exhorted, her tone carrying impatience.  
"She can come. Maybe, Keyta will soon end the bachelor's lifestyle, isn't that right Keyta," enquired Banagi for fun to embarrass and annoy him in front of his friends.  
The specimen who was being messed with glowered at his older friend while Terk left for Inkesha.  
"I have sired 12 offspring so far," boasted Banagi. "You'd better hurry if you want to catch up!"  
Keyta sighed angrily then, made his facial expression uglier out of fury.  
"You're beginning to get on my nerves," he replied while trying to conceal his negative emotions, but his meta communication leaked them. "Why do you pester me with this topic every once in a while? Find someone else," he added in an annoyed way while quickly jerking his head toward King Kong who suddenly noticed that.  
"Oh, no, don't you start. This goes for both of you, I don't want to be involved. I'm a one-lady childfree male and I don't want to change that," stated the male firmly.  
Banagi glanced at Kong still appearing to be in the mood for joking which Kong perceived.  
"No," he shouted as he saw the older silverback take a breath to speak. "No," he repeated just as strictly as before his yellow eyes showing disapproval.  
The jokester's silliness abandoned him due to the negative reactions. The males' conversation ended here. A short while later Terkina returned with her new lady friend and introduced her to Banagi, Keyta and Isuku. After this, the 6 gorillas wondered through the humid jungle then, reached a clearing. A part of the meadow was bordered by precipices which had rifts in between them. The vastest of these was the insect pit. When the apes arrived the pit seemed lifeless, no lifeforms could be seen excluding carnicti in dark muck which appeared to be inactive.  
"The creatures won't come out on their own. One of us will have to go in there and play dead then, they'll crawl out of the crevices on the walls. When they get close the gorilla who lied on the ground will pop up and all of us except for one enter the pit and quickly grab the weta-rexes, arachno-claws and deplectors we can and throw them out towards the gorilla who is outside. That one's task is to crush the critters' heads as soon as possible," expounded Banagi. "Inkesha, since you're new to this you don't have to be the one who acts dead if you don't want to. Would you like to enter the pit and hurl out bugs or would you like to stay outside and squash their heads once they're thrown towards you," he enquired.  
"I'd like to be in the pit," she replied.  
"Okay. Who wants to play dead," asked Banagi.  
No one volunteered. Everyone excluding Inkesha looked at each other waiting for the other to take up the task.  
"Nobody? Terk, how about you," enquired Banagi.  
"Why me," replied the female in an irritated way stressing the first word of her sentence.  
"I think you're the best at this. You even control your breathing so that your chest and stomach rise very little. One time, you even stuck your tongue out," answered Banagi enthusiastically.  
"No, thanks," replied Kong's mate dryly and with a stone-face.  
"But you're the best," tried Banagi.  
"My answer is still no," replied Terk a little louder than before. "Why don't YOU do it," she asked in a bit of an angry voice narrowing her eyes.  
"Yeah, Banagi, why don't you," asked King Kong.  
"If you want to push others into doing it push yourself instead," replied Keyta. "You're the biggest among all of us, the creatures will consider you a tasty treat. You'll lure them to yourself and will have the same success as a pile of excrement has with flies," reasoned the younger silverback. "So now, there are three of us voting for your going to play dead," he added. "Oh, and by the way, you mess with us, we mess with you."  
"Fine, I'll do it," exclaimed the older silverback then, pouted as he crept into the rift.  
He acted weak then, dropped himself to the ground as if he just deceased. The weta-rexes, arachno-claws and deplectors rushed out of their caves and chasms towards Banagi. The other apes excluding King Kong hurried into the rift, the older male popped up and the 5 began quickly grabbing hold of any creature they could and chucking them out towards Kong who was killing them. After a while the gorillas gathered enough food for all of them and those who were doing the tossing hurried out of the pit to Kong. Terkina showed Inkesha how to crack the shells of the arachno-claws and deplectors in order to reach the meat which tasted like crab.  
"So, how did you like bug hunting," asked Terk her friend then, took a bite out of a deplector claw whose flesh she had previously exposed.  
"It was a little scary but fun. I got bit multiple times by weta-rexes," answered Inkesha before consuming the de-shelled thorax of an arachno-claw.  
"The same happened to me during my first time at this. One jumped on the back of my neck and held onto my hair with its pincers. I got mad and killed it, but it still latched on and I couldn't pull it off because more and more of the critters came and I had to keep throwing them out while scanning my environment and making sure none of them bite me. There are more things at once that you must pay attention to, you'll get better at it," explained Terkina.  
After the apes finished their scrumptious, nutritious feast rich in protein they headed back to the troop and conversed for a while before heading down to the beach.  
"Isuku, I noticed before that you have a grey hair," announced Banagi merrily.  
"Really? That's great! I'm becoming a silverback," Kong's cousin excitedly questioned.  
He was coming to the age when a male begins growing grey hair on his back and across his shoulders. He could hardly wait to become a silverback. He turned around and squatted showing his back to the other apes.  
"Where is it?"  
"Oh, it's not on your back, you're not turning grey yet there. It's on your head," replied Banagi.  
Isuku let out a long, frustrated groan.  
"When will I become a silverback," he asked demandingly.  
"If you keep being impatient you won't but you'll end up with a head full of grey hairs and you will be the pioneer of a breed of males called grey-heads. Then, I have no idea how, but you'll find a female or two with lowered expectations and you'll mate with them. Your future kids may inherit impatience from you thus a new generation of grey-heads will appear. And as your bloodline continues grey-heads will spread and some male babies will be born with silver hairs on their heads and their descendants will be silver excluding their backs and shoulders from the birth to the death. And this is how everlasting black backs will be made," explained Banagi cheerfully whilst smiling the whole time.  
A few of the apes chuckled, Isuku frowned.  
"Not funny," declared Isuku in an authoritative tone.  
"When I was your age I was still black," said King Kong. "About a year later my first silver hairs popped up in the center of my back," he continued while turning around then taking up a squatting position. "Another year later, in the year when most of our troop was slain by dinosaurs and when I was abducted I had a patch this large of grey hairs," he said while reaching backwards and showing the size of the area with his hands. "Shortly, I met Terk, we spent 9 years in New York. I don't assume any changes happened in the first 2 years. Then, we got "married" and during the time of 8 years of marriage, 7 years in New York and 1 on Skull Island, the number of my silver hairs increased. So a big thanks goes to Terk for making me go grey on the upper and lower parts of my back and turn whiter in the center part of it," he added, putting irony especially in his last sentence.  
Terk lightly punched her husband in his upper arm out of playful revenge.  
"You hear that, Isuku, find a girl and become her life-mate! Then, you'll surely become a silverback," exclaimed the older male. "Oh, speaking of females, here's one that's single! Ask her out," he exclaimed.  
A glare formed on Keyta's face, he narrowed his bright, nearly glowing amber eyes and emitted a low growl at Banagi. This reaction strange to the others caught everyone's attention.  
"What are you growling about," asked the older male.  
The younger silverback stayed silent and softened his glance. All eyes were on him.  
"Oh, I get it! You're already jealous of Isuku who hasn't even asked her out yet," concluded Banagi out loud.  
If gorillas had white skin Keyta's face would have turned beet red as a result. The temperature of it suddenly increased, burning from embarrassment. He shifted his vision to the ground. He didn't respond this remark either.  
"Keyta's in lo-o-ove," shouted the older silverback.  
The amber-eyed male jerked his head up, ogled into Banagi's eyes whilst his pupils contracted and he distorted his face in anger.  
"Can it," he roared, frightening Banagi, who winced, and the others even himself.  
He was surprised at and ashamed of his behavior which wasn't usual of him. He hung his head staring at the soil again.  
"Banagi, I think you should knock it off," suggested Kong. "You're provoking him."  
The older male realized he had stepped over the borderline of acceptable jokes into the area of poking fun at another's delicate topic and remained quiet.  
"Okay," he pressed out.  
Shortly the gorillas crawled down to the sandy beach. The weather was perfect for frolicking in the water and swimming. Several small, white, fluffy cumulus clouds ornamented the light blue sky and the sun's shine contributed to the warm temperature of the atmosphere. The light, humid, cool breeze originating from the sea countered the effect of the hot, ascending air which radiated from the grains of the yellowish, tawny sand. The apes were creeping into the water when Terkina lost sight of King Kong. She had a bad feeling about this then, a suspicion suddenly emerged among her thoughts that the silverback may be behind her and planning to wet her hair. She hastily got up on her hind legs, swiveled around and caught Kong red-handed whilst trying to implement his plan. The male was standing up holding water in his palms put together. When a hideous expression manifested on the female's face he began grinning innocently at her still possessing the water in his hands.  
"Don't you dare," exclaimed Terkina threateningly.  
This raised the others' attention. They looked in the direction of the voice. Terk's mate was still holding the water. The female swiftly grabbed his wrists and pulled them apart allowing the water to flow through his hands.  
"What was he going to do," enquired Inkesha.  
"He was about to pour that water on my head to ruin my hair in front of all of you when he KNOWS WELL that I'm fastidious about my hair," explained Terk still shooting an ugly look at her husband.  
The male's smile faded, his facial expression indicated seriousness.  
"Sorry," he squeezed out.  
"Don't even think about it," replied Terkina.  
The apes were now swimming into the deeper parts of the ocean. Keyta began splashing Inkesha who reacted the same way. Soon Banagi, Isuku and King Kong joined them causing the friendly splashing to turn into a water war, everyone was against everyone. Terk backed away a bit to avoid her head getting soaked and watched them. About 5 minutes later she spotted some black dorsal fins lift out of the water as their owners swam to the surface to exhale then, take a new breath and submerge then, repeat the cycle.  
"Orcas, over there," she shouted while pointing to the pod.  
Her friends stopped their activity and gazed in the shown direction.  
"Maybe, they'll come here if we stay quiet and don't make sudden movements," said Keyta. "Who knows, maybe they're some of the dolphins that we had saved before," he added.  
"You saved dolphins," wondered Inkesha.  
"Yes. After that powerful storm which produced a water spout and large hail we went foraging then, wanted to bathe in the ocean. As we reached the shore we saw a lot of beached dolphins and a few whales. There were orcas among them. We picked the live cetaceans up and transported them back into the ocean. Some turned back and beached themselves again. We had to save them again. After we finished we finally went in and bathed. While we were doing that some of the dolphins swam over to us and did tricks, a few even let us pet them. Isn't that right, Kong?"  
"Yes, that's right, but you left out one important detail," corrected Kong with a smile on his face.  
"Oh, no," protested Isuku.  
"Oh, yes," replied the silverback with a wide beam, his yellow eyes shining.  
"You mean the accident," asked Keyta.  
"You mean when Isuku accidentally peed on you all excluding Terk," enquired Inkesha.  
"How do you know," yelled the black back unpleasantly surprised.  
"When Sharam was being punished a few of those who were beating him were listening to King Kong's report. From that point on, thanks to them, this story spread like wildfire. Everyone knows this, even the kids," explained Inkesha.  
"Is this true," asked Isuku.  
"Yes," responded the female.  
The pod of killer whales approached the primates and began swimming around them.  
"Do they bite," enquired Inkesha.  
"No they don't unless you annoy them," answered Banagi.  
Some orcas stopped by some of the apes, one situated itself in front of Inkesha.  
"This means it wants you to pet it. Just stroke or rub its back. If it turns on its side or rolls over it wants petting in the exposed areas," advised Keyta.  
Inkesha did as was recommended. The dolphin remained calm.  
"This one's female. Females are smaller than males and have less significant dorsal fins than males do, moreover males' dorsal fins are straight but the females' are curved," informed Keyta.  
A male swam to the young silverback and began spy hopping. He wrapped his hands around him and slowly began lifting him out of the water. After he completed that he continued speaking to Inkesha about these marine mammals.  
"This one is male. Besides those differences that I shared with you earlier males have larger pectoral fins than females do and the tips of their flukes curve downward," he said.  
"I have a question," chimed in Banagi.  
When he received Keyta's attention he asked, "Are you going to burp it?"  
When the younger silverback was discussing serious topics he disliked it and found it irritating when others were taking it lightly or even joking.  
"No," answered the amber-eyed male and placed the orca back into the ocean setting it free.  
After spending a while with the sea creatures the gorillas let their fur coats dry whilst creeping on the shore. They traveled towards the troop, about a kilometer from it they stumbled upon a tree whose yellow-orange, cucumber-like, meter-long fruit had fallen onto the soil under it.


	12. Inkesha's first time with friends part 2

Inkesha's first time with friends part 2: Keyta's and Inkesha's mistake

"Yay, fermented fruit," shouted Banagi happily.  
"Have you had funny fruit before," Kong asked Inkesha.  
"No," replied the female.  
"Since you're new to this I suggest you take only 2 pieces, no more. It's easy to push past your limits not knowing them especially when you're a beginner. If you end up eating too much fruit you'll suffer the consequences of drunkenness. You won't be able to control yourself and you'll make a fool out of yourself. You'll probably vomit, have vision problems, you'll have lack of coordination. The next morning you'll probably wake up with a hangover which is joined with a nasty headache," advised the silverback.  
The primates sat down and slowly consumed the fruit. A short while later they became merry and laughed at things they normally wouldn't find that funny. Terk thought she felt something in her hair and stroked back her hair whilst matting it down on her head which caught everyone's attention.  
"You haven't seen a gorilla's head before," she questioned a little annoyed.  
She let go of her hair which bounced back up regaining its original form. The others giggled at this. After this her husband scooted next to her and she felt a hand pet back her hair when she wasn't looking. She didn't even turn her head but swiftly grabbed the arm of that hand then, shot a very stern look at its owner who turned out to be King Kong who was making an ingenious face. She formed his hand so that all of his fingers, excluding his pointer finger, shaped into a fist. Then, she bent his arm, pushed it towards his body and directed it upwards so that his straightened finger ended up in his nostril. Chortling erupted. The male yanked his head back as a result and tipped backwards. When he sat back up, he realized Keyta and Inkesha were missing. He let the others know this and set off to find them with Terk. They didn't need to crawl very far, from behind some bushes squelching noises became audible. Peering through the leaves the couple witnessed Keyta and Inkesha sitting face-to-face with each other, clinging together, kissing and stroking each other. They noticed that remains of funny fruit dappled the ground close to them.  
"If she's in estrus this looks like a recipe for disaster," whispered Terk. "I must stop her from making that mistake."  
She emerged out of the bush, whilst snapping twigs, the foliage rustled.  
"Inkesha, what are you doing," she asked then, Kong also appeared.  
"We're getting ready to mate," she replied irritably.  
"Do you want an unwanted pregnancy," asked Terkina in a serious voice.  
"No. I'm not in heat, I'm far from it," she responded.  
"This is not a good idea what you're carrying out. I think you're going to regret this maybe not today, but the morning after," warned Terk. "You barely know Keyta moreover I see that at least one of you had too much fermented fruit," she added.  
"I'm having the best time of my life," protested Inkesha. "I'm finally wanted by a male," she announced loudly with thrill.  
"Fine, it's your choice, but I still think you're doing something horrible. This will be a painful lesson for you," replied Kong's mate.  
She and her husband sauntered back to their friends as the young silverback and the overweight, brownish yellow-eyed female began copulating.  
"Where are Keyta and Inkesha," asked Isuku.  
"They want to be alone," answered King Kong.  
"They'll show up when they want to," added Terk slightly glumly.  
The four gorillas spent time chatting for a few more hours before returning to their nests. Keyta and Inkesha were still together in the jungle, they spatiated back to the band at night time and slept close together in Keyta's nest on the ground.  
The darkness of the night was nullified by the morning light. Inkesha opened her big eyes. In her peripheral vision she caught sight of something large and black right next to her. She glanced in that direction and discovered it was the still sleeping Keyta. It dawned on her what had happened yesterday when she recognized him: she and Keyta had gotten intoxicated and as a result their self-control forsook them, their passion was heightened which manifested in their mating with each other several times. She realized that she hardly knew anything about Keyta and that she had sex with a complete stranger. She had never intended to start a serious relationship this way, she had acted very different from her personality and policy. Her temperature increased due to shame and regret, she became nauseous and tears started rolling down the black, wooly fur on her cheeks. She quietly got up and snuck back to her nest whilst bitterly weeping. She continued crying her eyes out at her place. She had no appetite and didn't search for food. Keyta woke up and noticed Inkesha had already left. The memories of last night played in his mind. When he had begun spending time with Inkesha in his circle of friends and got a closer look at her he developed a crush on her. It was his idea to speak to the female privately and so was the carrying of additional funny fruit with them to their hidden destination farther from their friends. He was tempted to persuade her into eating more of the fruit but conquered this, he let her decide whether she wants to consume more or not. Inkesha felt only slightly tipsy and chose to exceed the eaten quantity of 2 pieces, she ate another piece, a while after that a 4th one. After some time she felt like flying when she crept. Keyta having observed her slightly unsteady movements took advantage of her state and began showing her affection. He rubbed his cheek against hers, to his surprise she returned the gesture then, kissed him on the lips. From that point on they got deeper into loving and ended up mating more than once. At first, Keyta felt heat spreading in his body thinking about this, but the consciousness of Inkesha's absence worried him. He wondered to her nest and found her sitting whilst shedding tears. What he was witnessing saddened him. She caught sight of him and began sobbing harder emitting depressed groans from time to time.  
"Inkesha," he called her name in a dispirited way.  
"What do you want," she moaned.  
"I saw you had left my nest and I got very concerned. Why are you crying," he enquired.  
"Because I slept with a total stranger on who I developed a crush. This is not like me," she shouted then, continued weeping. "And as a result I ruined my chance of a long-term relationship," she added.  
The male was glad to hear that she had feelings for him as he did for her. He presumed that he was Inkesha's potential for the desired relationship.  
"You didn't waste your chance. Sure, we made a mistake, but if you still want to give a long-term relationship with me a try, I'm open," he said.  
"I still think I wasted it. I'm being eaten alive spiritually, physically and emotionally by shame, sadness and regret, this is not how I had intended to start a serious relationship! This is not me! I have no appetite, I have no peace of mind, I am full of grief, I have been crying ever since I woke up, my loins sink," she yelled terribly.  
"You didn't waste it if it regards me," he answered then, tried approaching her.  
"Don't come any closer, please," she implored a bit forcefully. "What happened yesterday really bothers me and I need to process this. I need a break from you for a while," she added in a quieter tone.  
"I'm sorry that you're going through this pain," he sorrowfully replied. "Have you eaten anything yet," he asked.  
"No," she replied.  
"You should. Once you've fully digested this, can we begin meeting again," he enquired.  
"I think so," she replied.  
"Okay. See you some time," he responded then, roved away.


	13. Inkesha's interesting encounter

Inkesha's interesting encounter

A week after the incident with Keyta Inkesha set off to forage alone. She crept further from the troop through the misty jungle toward an evergreen fruit tree, which she had spotted, yielding exotic, purple, spherical fruit with a diameter of 1.5 meters. During her trip she had to pass through the spaces between spreading shrubs greater than her in height. Having pressed herself through one of the small gaps the sight which unfolded in front of her surprised her greatly. A young, fully grown, snow white-furred, sky blue-eyed male standing on his fours right in front of her was glancing back at her. The areas of his body which weren't covered with hairs glowed pink in color. Inkesha had never seen such a specimen among her species before.  
"I assume you've never seen an albino before," said the stranger, breaking the quietness.  
"No, I haven't," replied Inkesha shyly.  
"I thought so," responded the male. "Otherwise you wouldn't be staring at me like a tyrannosaurus rex that just got struck by lightning," he added.  
Inkesha imagined the dinosaur in the simile: a freshly electrocuted T-Rex with smoke seeping out of his skin, his mouth gaping open with drool flowing out in a narrow, glutinous stream, his arms swiftly and uncontrollably quivering and his eyes which had become like a frog's, large and serious. She giggled at what her imagination produced.  
"You think it's funny? When a few of my troop mates and I were little we actually saw a tyrannosaur get struck by lightning during a storm. We ventured close to it, grabbed some sticks and began poking it to see if it was really dead. It didn't even move a muscle. Then, we crawled near to its head and just stared into its eye which was widened out of fright and stared up into the sky. A minute later the eye looked straight at us, we jumped up startled and sped back to the band, each of us rushing to our mothers while the dinosaur was getting up. We ended up luring it to the band. Nice going, Fari and friends. I will never forget that, it scared me to death when it suddenly looked at us," reported the albino. "By the way, my name's Fari."  
Inkesha described how she envisioned the shocked T-Rex right after the white gorilla used it in a simile. This made him laugh. After this, the female introduced herself. Then, the two kept conversing as they crawled toward the fruit tree so that she could have breakfast. She was in the middle of eating when Terk abruptly exploded out of the bushes, whose foliage rustled loudly, and rapidly dashed past Fari and her with Kong in her tracks. She speedily climbed up the tree followed by her mate. The leafy branches concealed the couple, only the swishing of the leaves could be heard which indicated their presence. A short while later their hasty descending which grew in volume became more and more audible. After Terkina reached the ground she turned around, with great momentum she began galloping but could only make a short distance due to the unique sight of the white male. She instantly halted which made Kong, who was already on the ground, crash into her from behind. The female fell forward on her face, the male landed on top of her.  
"Get off of me, Kong," said Terk in an irritated voice. "Kong, you hear me?"  
King Kong didn't react, he was ogling in awe at the white-furred, blue-eyed gorilla.  
"Kong, I'm talking to you," said the gorilla lady in a raised, annoyed tone.  
The silverback snapped out of his daze.  
"Oh, sorry," he replied rising from Terkina then, stepped aside.  
He and his wife continued visually examining Fari as the mentioned male stared at Terk's hair. Inkesha ended the silence.  
"King Kong, Terkina, this is Fari, Fari, this is King Kong and Terkina," she said.  
The new acquaintances greeted each other then, further conversation followed this.  
"Do you have a troop," enquired Kong. "If I may ask, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but why are you a different color," he added out of curiosity.  
"I'm an albino. I was born this way, with white fur, blue eyes, pink skin and I'm sensitive to too much sunlight, I get sunburned if I'm in the sun for too long. My eyes are also more sensitive to bright light than average eyes are. About 25% of my troop is albino, I think it has to do with inbreeding. The females sired by the two silverback brothers in my band were somehow unsuccessful in finding other troops to join, so some of them mated with their uncles. About a third of the babies born from these unions, including me, ended up with albinism. A few, regardless of being albino or not, were stillborn. The uncle-niece courtships continued, soon 25% of our band consisted of albinos. I used to belong to this troop but yesterday I got driven away from them by my father and uncle because I became a silverback not too long ago, so currently, I don't have a band. I decided to settle near this tree which gives me plenty of food," he answered.  
Inkesha continued her eating where she left off.  
"Our troop is located close to where you are. To avoid conflict it's best that at least one of us should head back to them and report you to the elders and that you mean no harm. There have been no cases of albinism in our band so if you come into contact with them don't be taken aback if you get stared at, get questions about your exterior and unintentionally startle children. Oh, and I advise you not to approach females especially when they are alone, the males may think you are interested in mating with them. You can be close to Terk, if she wants you to, but don't try to have your way with her, she's my life-mate. If you do, you're going to suffer dire consequences. I see you have started getting acquainted with Inkesha. If she wants you to, you can hang out with her. I also suggest you don't draw near our troop on your own, they may see you as a threat, moreover they haven't seen an albino gorilla before, they will probably get frightened at your sight, they probably don't even know they exist and how they get albinism," expounded Kong.  
The male turned to his wife.  
"Terk, do you want to go back to the band with me while continuing where we left off," he asked.  
"Yes," responded the female excitedly.  
She bolted, the silverback chased her.  
Fari glanced at Inkesha questioningly.  
"They're doing what they call a 'love chase'. King Kong goes after Terk at top speed while Terk tries not to get caught. Sometimes Terk pursues Kong," explained the female.  
Fari and Inkesha continued getting to know each other. The next day the gorilla lady roved back to the place where she had yesterday's breakfast and found Fari again. As a result she wandered away from the band each day to meet him.


	14. Good-bye kiss

Goodbye kiss

About a month after Keyta and Inkesha made their mistake they decided to remain friends, it would have made Inkesha feel uncomfortable to continue building her relationship with the male beyond friendship, moreover she was interested in tightening her bond with Fari. After months of dating on one particular rendezvous, before Inkesha was about to return to her nest, Fari drew near to the female, closer than he had ever been to her. They said their goodbyes then, the white one gave her a kiss on her forehead before their parting. She had never received this form of affection before and found it strange. This kiss made the gorilla lady feel abashed. After a few seconds she turned around and sauntered away still carrying the emotion of embarrassment. As she was on her way back to her nest passing between bushes she wondered if Fari would turn out to be her future soulmate or not. Thoughts of uncertainty also raised their heads about the upcoming levels of their relationship, their being able to manifest or not. A part of her regretted her not kissing him back, another part supported the point of not making this decision without thinking, allowing her feelings to lead her deeds. Soon, the nests of the troop, the males' on the ground, the females' on the boughs, came into view including Kong's and Terk's mutual nest situated on the jungle floor. Inkesha was crawling up to King Kong and Terkina, whilst the silverback was annoying his mate. When the female wasn't looking, he swiftly grabbed her tiara and placed it on her head.  
"Hey," shouted Terk while glaring at Kong.  
She was reaching to take off her headdress when the male suddenly gripped her by the wrists and pulled her arms down.  
"Tiara stays on," he replied strictly.  
The female's face displayed greater anger than before, she looked savage and even snarled.  
"Okay, tiara comes off," he urgently said while grinning then, lifted the object, which she loathed to wear off of her head and placed it back into the nest. Terk's face became calm again.  
Inkesha arrived right at that scene. Her unexpected sight startled her friends.  
"Terk, may I ask you something, if the time's convenient for you."  
"Yes, you may," replied Terkina.  
"Terk, at the end of our date, Fari kissed me on the forehead. What does that mean," wondered Inkesha. "No one has ever done that to me."  
The couple widened their eyes out of amazement.  
"It means several things. It could mean that he loves you and wants to be more than just your friend. It may mean that you're special to him. It could mean that he views himself as your protector. It may mean that he cares about you. It could mean he honors and respects you. It may also mean malice, some males do this and act really kind towards a female if they lust after her and want to mate with her, some males do this to earn a female's trust and manipulate her into doing his will," she expounded. "So, I don't know what Fari wanted to express, what I know is that you should be careful and be able to say 'no' to him if he tries to coax you into something you don't want to do," she advised seriously. "Try to find out whether he lusts after you or loves you. If he wants to rush things such as mating, tries manipulating you, emotionally blackmails you, is impatient with you and is possessive, it's lust."  
"If you want to you can ask him what he meant by kissing you like that. Don't be too shy to ask questions, it won't hurt," suggested King Kong. "Maybe you should enquire about this if your mind is occupied by the mystery of this," he added.  
"Thanks for the explanation and advice. I hope it's not lust. If I am courageous enough I'll ask him," responded Inkesha.  
The next day when she was with Fari, she enquired about the meaning of the kiss. He told her that she means a lot to him and wants to be more than friends with her. Inkesha let him know that she wants a stronger bond too and is ready to take their relationship to the next level, but she must confess something. She informed him about her fall with Keyta and that this was a bad choice, which she regretted to a great extent. His heart sunk a little having heard this and he admitted that she will be her first and last if they make it to that kind of serious relationship. She also told him that she doesn't want any children, just a very close bond with a male. This lifted his spirits, knowing she won't be divided between him and an offspring and will fully be his, but sadness caused by her private personal state still lingered. His glumness aroused feelings of regret in her and she began burning from shame. She tried consoling him by telling him that she wishes he would be the only one to claim her if they get to that point and that she's sorry. He expressed that it will take time for him to feel better. They agreed to be boyfriend and girlfriend. The troop accepted Fari as a member, the male built his nest next to the trunk of the tree, on which Inkesha's resting place was built. Inkesha kept Terk's and Kong's information in mind and looked for signs which indicated lust rather than love.


	15. Where are the males?

Where are the males?

One night Terkina drifted out of sleep because of her feeling the stimulus to urinate due to her having eaten a lot of juicy fruits hours before. She got up when she realized that she didn't hear King Kong's breathing. She began feeling the side of the nest where he slept, she discovered he was missing. She felt panic enhancing in her. After peeing somewhere outside the nest she wondered around steadily while feeling in the dark calling her mate's name half-aloud for a while. Having not received a reply she waited for a short time then, repeated saying Kong's name over and over again while creeping around. This attempt failed as well and she remembered that King Kong takes a shorter time to "go bathroom" than the time which had been spent locating him. Nervousness began eating her. She cautiously crept towards Kong's friends' nests to enquire whether they know anything about her husband's disappearance or not. As she approached their resting places she only stumbled upon empty nests. Banagi, Keyta and Isuku weren't present. Terk found this strange and began to consider that her life-mate and his buddies were up to something. She wanted what they were doing to be revealed, but didn't intend to do the searching for the truth on her own in this darkness. She decided to inform Inkesha about the situation then, ask for help. She carefully roved to the tree on which her pal's nest was built. Having reached her destination she cautiously climbed up the tree and began waking her friend. She quietly called her name while gently shaking her.  
"What is it Terk," she replied sleepily then, yawned.  
"I woke up and found out Kong, Keyta, Banagi and Isuku are all gone! I don't know where they are," reported Terk nervously. "Would you help me find them?"  
"In this blackness? I think it's best if we take Fari along with us in case we are threatened," she replied. "Fari," she called. "Fari! Fari, do you hear me," she shouted.  
She didn't get a reply. The females descended from the tree, Inkesha was startled when she couldn't feel her boyfriend in his nest, but empty air.  
"He's not there! Now, I am also stressed," she said anxiously.  
A boisterous laugh slashed the atmosphere. The ladies immediately turned their heads in the direction of the noise.  
"That sounded like Banagi," indicated Terk. "Let's go that way."  
The two travelled towards the source of the sound, as they got closer and closer to it, more noises became audible, soon the girls were able to recognize the owners of the voices and understand the dialogue.  
"The Old claims that he saw a giant moth about 45 meters long with a wingspan of about 240 meters wide flying around yesterday. He states it was covered in tan fur; had large blue glowing eyes; black mandibles; 2 feather-like antennae on its head; a curved stinger; 2 pairs of legs a larger and smaller pair on its thorax, and 1 pair of legs on its abdomen; and 4 brown, black, orange and yellow wings. He said he saw it when he was alone in a clearing. It landed not far from him. He decided to go close to it. You won't believe what he reported next," said Banagi while squatting, he put increasing strain in his last sentence. "Aaaaaahhh," he groaned.  
"What did he say," asked Kong with skepticism also in the same position letting pressure be expressed in his tone.  
He loudly passed some gas, the others exploded in laughter, Terk was quietly giggling.  
"Are they doing together what I think they are," she whispered to her friend.  
The wind began blowing from the direction of the males to the females.  
"Judging by the stench, yes," replied Inkesha quietly carrying disgust in her tone while fanning the air in front of her face with her hand.  
"The Old claimed that when he was about 7-8 meters away from the creature it turned to face him and pointed the lower segments of the legs growing out of its thorax towards him while standing on its hind legs..."  
"Wait a minute! He had the courage to approach that thing which was bigger than him," questioned Fari while taking a dump as the other two males did.  
"I'm unsure this whole thing is true. The Old may have had too much funny fruit or may have dreamt it. So, the irregular moth showing self-defense didn't stop him. He reached toward it, he could almost touch it when it slapped his hand away with one of its front legs. He tried again, this time, it wounded him, by stabbing him in the forearm with that same front leg. The Old cried out in pain then, stared the thing in the eyes whilst forming a glare on his face. He slowly got up on his hind legs, leaned back and peed on it out of vengeance," continued Banagi.  
"How did it end," enquired Keyta.  
"The moth began squealing in a raspy, high pitched tone, the Old began to flee, it took wing and chased him. It almost gained on him to the extent that it could attack him, but the Old galloped into the forest in time, it had to pull-up," finished Banagi.  
Terkina and Inkesha decided to make their presences known. Branches snapped and greenery swished as it brushed against their fur.  
"Who's there," asked King Kong sternly.  
"Your wife and her friend who were REALLY WORRIED about their mates' DISAPPEARANCES," shouted back Terk madly. "Next time TELL US when YOU and YOUR FRIENDS will go somewhere without us," she yelled with more volume than before fueled by rage.  
"Fari, why didn't you tell me when you would be gone," asked Inkesha.  
"We didn't even suspect that you would be up this late in the night when we are," replied the albino.  
"We were in the faith so far that you are always asleep at the time we occasionally get up at night and get together therefore we didn't even think of telling you we'd be gone," responded King Kong.  
"So, you've done this before, not only this time," concluded Terk. "Why do you and your friends get together this late in the night away from the troop," she asked wanting to get an explanation from him and a confirmation of her assumption from him.  
"First of all, you're going to find it weird what I'm going to say. You know that it is a habit of females to urinate together with their lady friends, right?"  
"Yes," replied both females in unison.  
"We, males, have a different habit. It even has a name: synchronized crapping. We do it with our male friends. It starts when one of us wakes up late at night with the stimulus indicating the need to do number 2. Then, he goes to his friends and wakes them up to enquire if they need to go. Even ones who don't need to do number 2 can join. When that's done, we go further from the troop together to not wake them up. Then, we start doing number 2 together at the same time while goofing off. After finishing number 2 we stay for a short while to talk about silly, interesting and/or guy topics," expounded Kong. "By the way, what made you two wake up?"  
"I had to pee. Then, I noticed you weren't in the nest. I tried looking for you twice on my own but couldn't find you. Then, I went to your friends' nests and realized they were absent too. After that, I went to Inkesha and woke her up," explained Terkina. "Would you please wake us up next time right before you go synchronized crapping and tell us you'll be away for a while with your friends? We would know the reason why you are gone and wouldn't be nervous and startled due to not knowing the reason of your absence after waking up and noticing you're gone," implored Terk. "You caused us to worry."  
"Fari, her request, which is also mine, goes for you too," added Inkesha.  
"We didn't intend to cause that in you. We're sorry. We'll wake you next time," responded the silverback earnestly.  
"I'm sorry, Inkesha. Will wake you before I leave," apologized and promised the white male honestly.  
"Would you return to your nests please? We aren't finished yet and would like some privacy," requested Banagi.  
"Okay," answered the girls.  
They spatiated back to their places and fell back asleep. A short while later the boys also returned to continue snoozing where they left off.


	16. Criticism

Criticism

Fari had been a member of the band for about 2 weeks now. He still got stared at from time to time. The made-up nickname for him, "substitute Old," began circulating among the troop members. He and Inkesha were laying in his nest facing each other. He scooted closer to his girlfriend to cuddle her and rub his cheek against hers. As the two started showing affection like this, they were harshly interrupted.

"You'll have babies covered in grey fur," shouted a female farther from them while passing by.

The two suddenly jerked their heads toward the taunting one. Inkesha recognized her. She was one of her aunts from her mother's side! Fari's mate was so taken aback by this that she couldn't think of a comeback. Fari and she continued where they left off. Seconds later they were roused by another voice.

"And everyone will think the father is the Old!"

The couple glanced in the direction of the one who yelled at them. The girl realized it was Indira who was carrying her baby on her back.

"Hopefully your baby will not make fun of others UNLIKE HER MOTHER," bellowed Inkesha while shooting a hideous look at her.

This retort embarrassed Indira, she looked away and kept crawling as if nothing had happened. Fari's girlfriend knew well that this lady was her mother's friend. The mood to show love to her boyfriend was shoved out of her by that last remark and the anger it caused. The albino felt offended twice, he wasn't in the mood anymore as well. It didn't end there. A third female was following the two previous ones. She began coughing loudly whilst saying "mutant" while creeping by. Inkesha recognized this one: she was Indira's mother, her mom's best friend! It raised suspicions in her that her very own mother was behind the insults of her acquaintances since all 3 were linked to her. She wanted to ask her mom questions about this. The white-furred male looked sorrowful. Having observed this his girlfriend embraced him in a way that his face met with her chest which is a kind of hug given among their species when one wants to comfort another. After splitting the white silverback, who felt better, planted a kiss on her forehead out of gratitude.

"Fari, I presume my mother is behind these offenses. All three women are my mom's acquaintances: the first is my aunt, the second is her friend and the third is her best friend. I'd like know whether this is true by asking her some questions," she said.

"Okay. I'll go visit our friends while you talk with your mom," he replied. "It hurts to get such negative reactions from this troop."

"I know and I'm sorry to hear that. It bothers me how some treat you. It's strange to me that my mother's acquaintances began pestering us suddenly on this day 3 times in a row. This was probably planned out," she answered sadly.

The pair got up and went their ways. Inkesha crept up to her mother who was eating grasses not too far from the tree on which her nest was constructed.

"Mom, may I talk with you," she asked.

"Yes you may," replied the female who looked almost identical to her.

"Not long ago Fari and I were in his nest together and as we were hugging your sister, Mahirwe, said to us or me "You'll have babies covered in grey fur." This shocked me. Right after that Indira ended the sentence with "And everyone will think the father is the Old." This hurt my feelings and I shouted back to her. Then, your best friend, Rugira, called Fari "mutant" while coughing but letting that word be recognizable. Your sister and your friends offended us especially Fari, who told me that the negative reactions of the band towards him displeased him," reported her daughter expecting a reaction from her.

"Interesting... I'm sorry to hear that," she responded a little tensely.

"Is that all? You've aroused my suspicions since I noticed all three gorillas are your family or friends, and now because of your answer you're even more suspicious," responded Inkesha harshening her tone gradually. "Were you behind this or not?"

"Sort of. The girls were with me yesterday. I told them about your boyfriend," she retorted.

"What did you tell them," interrogated the young one. "There must be a reason why they exhibited this kind of behavior towards us," Fari's girlfriend added firmly.

"I told them that Fari is an albino and that I heard that he's inbred and maybe that's why he's albino..." she spat out nervously.

"And why is that a problem," asked Inkesha.

"He's... out of the norm, there's something wrong with him genetically. And I don't like it that you're his mate due to this and it's just strange to me," she confessed. "Have you considered other males before choosing him?"

A glare began forming on her offspring's face but as her understanding of things from a different viewpoint started increasing, her face smoothed back.

"I made a mistake with Keyta. I told you about this before. We decided to remain friends. A week after I stumbled upon Fari as I was searching for food. We talked for a while. I wanted to talk more and went back to see if he was still there. He was. I visited him every day before the band accepted him and as this went on our relationship strengthened. It turned out that he wants the same kind of relationship I do, a monogamous and child-free one. Most males aren't like that, they just mate with a female and leave her and mate with another female and leave that one and this repeats. He can't help it that he's inbred and has albinism, it's not his fault," she expounded in a calmer way. "I want to know why your sister and friends acted nasty."

"I told them that I don't agree with your being mates. They agreed with me and offered their help in splitting you apart..." she painfully confessed.

"And you accepted," deducted Inkesha disappointedly and whilst offended.

"Yes," croaked her mom.

Her child slowly shook her head out of rage and dejection wounded her. She promptly left her mother who called after her saying sorry but she hastily crept to find Fari. She noticed him sitting in the company of King Kong and Terkina. She joined the party then, described what she had discussed with her mother in great detail.

"Your mother, her sister and her friends really caused me pain. I also found out that the name "substitute Old" has been given to me. At times I still get ogled at, sometimes I see gorillas whispering to each other as I pass them by. I'm thinking about leaving this troop," he unhappily said.

"I don't think that's a good idea. If you're alone you could end up being overpowered and murdered by a group of carnivorous dinosaurs or you may run into Sharam, an exile, who is ill-tempered, strong and dangerous. There are gorillas in this band that respect you, are your friends and like you just the way you are such as Banagi, Keyta, Isuku, Terkina, Inkesha and me, moreover Inkesha loves you. So, it would be better if you stayed. Not everybody likes you and I think there will always be gorillas that won't. This goes for everyone, take Terk for example: she's not an average female, she is different. She is a tomboy and has been in a monogamous child-free relationship with me and has long hair on her head that stands up. She is disliked by most average females who consider not living in a long-term relationship with a male, mating with various males, raising kid after kid to be normal unlike Terk. She doesn't spend time with those females excluding my half-sister, she doesn't interact with them. She spends time with me and our circle of friends, we are a tight group. I advise you to avoid those who bring you down such as Inkesha's mother, her acquaintances, those who gossip about you and call you names," suggested King Kong.

"Thanks," replied Fari. "Our nests are close to those undesirable ones' nests. I'd like to nest close to you or our friends. Inkesha, can we move away from your mother, her family and her friends," he enquired.

"Yes we can," she answered. "I am very disappointed in my mother," she added crucially.

"Kong, can they nest close to us," surveyed Terkina.

"Yes. You can nest near us if you want," said King Kong. "But not too close, we'd like to have some personal space."

"Okay. Thanks," responded Terk's lady friend gratefully.

"Thank you," said the white gorilla.

Fari and his girlfriend built their places for rest that is moved closer to their friends.


	17. The pee moth part 1

The pee moth part 1

The story of the Old meeting Mothra spread quickly among the band. King Kong and Terkina even made up a funny story titled The Pee Moth which a short period of Kesho's naughty behavior inspired. The couple visited Amal when their half nephew was further from them carelessly playing with his friends. She told them again about her problem of her son not listening to her. She tried solving the issue on her own by having a deep conversation with him about the way he acts and the cause. She succeeded in getting him to open up to her about his motives. He stated that he doesn't always feel like obeying her.  
She remembered back when she rebelled against her mother at times and explained that sometimes we have to do things such as listen to certain directions even though we don't feel like fulfilling them. She shared with him an example of this from her childhood. When Amal was about the age of Kesho she was told not to wonder too far from the troop. She disregarded the warning and ventured away out of their sight until she reached a clearing. She enjoyed crawling in the meadow whose grass towered above her. Little did she know that she was heading into the center of a brontosaurus herd. As she was joyfully frolicking she bumped into something which resembled a smooth, grey tree trunk. Then, a startled roar sheared the air as the object moved which turned out to be a brontosaurus leg. She and the dinosaurs got scared, they began to scatter. As she was galloping back to the jungle some of these long-necked creatures frantically crept above her almost trampling her into the ground. She made it back safely but was shocked by the happenings. Her mother observed this and asked her where she had been. She reluctantly let her know the place and confessed to her what she had experienced. As punishment she was prohibited by her mom to be with friends. This was a harsh lesson for her and she explained to Kesho that she wants the best for him and it's for his own good that she asks him to do something or doesn't let him do something regardless of how he feels.  
This worked for a while but the boy's will soon regained its original strength again. She tried banning him from friends but this backfired because he started annoying her out of boredom. She just didn't know what to do anymore. Terk suggested that if necessary she should try taking more drastic measures, be stricter even slap him as a last resort if nothing else works. Her husband suggested scaring him with the pee moth story as a way of being harder on him.

"What is the pee moth," she enquired.

"The pee moth is the giant insect that the Old claims he had seen," replied her half-brother.

"Why is it called the pee moth," she asked.

"You'll find out, if we can get Kesho to come here and listen to it with you," answered Terk.

"I'll go fetch him..." responded Amal then, set off towards some children who were chatting with each other and laughing from time to time.

She returned with the boy by her side.

"Hi, aunt Terk and uncle Kong," he excitedly greeted.

"Hi, Kesho. Your aunt Terk and I are here to share a story with you," he firmly said.

"Really," he unseeingly wondered.

"Yes," replied Terk without emotion.

"Why are you both so serious? Aren't you glad to see me," he asked a little disappointedly.

"We have heard that you haven't been listening to your mother and because of this I will tell you a story which has a lesson," replied King Kong.

"Why are you going to tell me a story if I behaved badly? I don't get it," he said with a bit of anger in his tone.

"Because what your uncle Kong is going to tell you is important," answered Terk. "Have you ever heard of... the pee moth," she enquired.

"No," responded the boy.

"Centuries ago a large egg about the size of my fist fell out of the sky. Our ancestors having heard the branches breaking as they slowed its descent turned their heads in the direction from where the noise came. They noticed that it had landed among them and drew near it. They couldn't match it with any of the species living here on Skull Island which laid eggs. Never had they seen an egg so large. Just to be on the safe side they pushed it into the center of the clearing where the brontosauruses graze. About a week later some troop members decided to check on it whether it was still there or not. They discovered pieces of its shell scattered in the grass: it had hatched. Shortly after this they heard swishing of tree branches from a tree growing on the border of the meadow and the forest. They glanced in that direction and were startled by the sight of an ugly, brown, spiky caterpillar as long as my arm devouring the foliage. They retreated back to the band and spread the news. As weeks passed the caterpillar grew bigger and bigger, soon it became twice as long as a silverback. Then, it cocooned and a creature, a giant moth, squeezed itself out of it. The moth is twice as tall as a silverback and has an even greater wingspan than a silverback's height. It's wings which are brown, yellow, black and orange having a slightly light bluish glow on their roots and not far from the roots could probably shelter a medium-sized troop from the rain. It has large glowing blue eyes and sees quite well. It has two feather-like antennae, it tickles those kids with them who behave well. It has black mandibles. It has six long legs ending in sharp claws, a larger and smaller pair on the thorax and a more muscular pair on the abdomen, it can even stand on its hind legs alone. It has a retractable, slightly curved stinger on the end of its abdomen, similar to a bumblebee's. The whole being excluding its eyes, mandibles, stinger, claws and antennae is covered in shaggy, tan fur similar in length and texture to ours. Now, let me explain to you why it is called... the pee moth. This creature somehow knows how well or how naughty children behave. I already told you what good kids get from it, let's get to the case of the not well-behaved children such as those who don't listen to their mothers. The pee moth appears in the dreams of those children, but the kids don't know in advance during which night and in which dream it will show up. Here's what you would see if you dreamt with the pee moth. Your current dream suddenly turns black then, two glowing blue eyes manifest out of nothing then, close in on you. You can't run. When the eyes get close enough the light radiating out of them illuminates the creature and its close surroundings as it unleashes an ear-piercing, raspy screech that is so scary that you immediately wake up finding out that you peed in the nest under yourself! That is the reason why it is called… the pee moth," said the silverback.

The child didn't say a word in response, he felt tense and worried. He felt that he had to warn the other kids.

"Mom, may I return to my friends? I must tell them this," he requested urgently.

"Yes, you may," she said.


	18. The pee moth part 2

The pee moth part 2

Kesho galloped to his buddies. His circle of best friends consisted of a funny, light brown-eyed male a year older than Kesho named Inyange; an amber-eyed, sensitive female, Keyta's little sister, Mahane, who was neither fat nor thin; and Shabani, a creative, greenish brown-eyed male a few months younger than Kesho. Amal's son depicted Mothra to them in a detailed way then, told them the fabricated story of her. He ended up arousing the same feelings in them which his half-uncle did when he shared the tale with him. The children decided to spatiate further from the troop to be absent from the presence of adults and to check the clearing where the Old stated he'd seen the moth-like creature. When they reached the line consisting of the trees splitting the meadow from the forest they stopped there and each climbed up a tree to get a bird's eye view of the grassland.

"I don't see any pee moth here," concluded Inyange after studying the place.

"Me neither," said Mahane.

"Maybe it doesn't even exist," presumed Shabani doubtfully. "Maybe the Old made it up and your uncle Kong added to it to get you to listen to your mother."

"You think so," asked Kesho. "I'm unsure of that."

After about half an hour of waiting and occasionally scanning the clearing the gorilla kids descended. The last to climb down, Mahane, got startled and screamed while returning to the ground.

"I saw it," she exclaimed, her eyes were widened. "It was carrying a dead whale."

"Seriously," asked Shabani.

"Yes! It just landed somewhere over there," she claimed pointing in the direction where it may have touched the ground. "I want to go home," she added.

"I want to see the pee moth," said Kesho with determination. "I just want to be sure whether it exists or not. I have doubts."

"Me two," chimed in Inyange.

"Me three," said Shabani.

"Then, let's go find it," exclaimed Kesho.

"But I saw it, it really exists. Believe me. I want to go home," protested Mahane indignantly.

"We want to see the moth," replied Shabani. "We're going."

The three hastily but quietly began creeping toward their destination. The female finally decided to join them. They thought they had reached the desired place but couldn't see any giant winged critter anywhere.

"Mahane, are you sure you gave us the right direction," questioned Inyange.

"Yes," she replied seriously.

"Maybe it's in the grass and it could be lying down," assumed Shabani. "I think we should try searching in the grass," he suggested.

"Good idea. I wish we were taller. This grass is higher than us even if we stand on our back legs," replied Kesho.

The four kids started crawling through the dense, yellowish green grass in a single file line.

"Everyone stop," whispered Inyange the leader. "Come next to me silently, you should see this!"

The three obeyed, but Kesho failed to completely follow the orders because he didn't succeed in holding in his gas, therefore an audible fart split the air. Mothra, who was lying down, her wings spread apart, rose hearing the sound and stared down at the gorillas with huge, Crayola cerulean, lidless, still eyes. Her large, brown caterpillar having a bluish tint and the same eye-color as her mother, who was right next to her, who had been munching on the whale, stopped and erected its first half of her body and ogled at them with her mother. All four children's eyes bugged out due to fear and they screamed in terror simultaneously. Then, they began confessing, pleading and begging whilst crying.

"Please great pee moth, have mercy on us! I don't always listen to my mother because I don't feel like it! I just don't want to," wailed Kesho. "I don't always want to stay close to the troop!"

"Pee moth, I just don't want to stop climbing so high on trees! I get in trouble if I do it but I do it anyway," shouted Shabani while in tears.

"I have tried ruining my big brother's dates by stalking him and his girlfriend then, jumping out of my hiding place and unleashing a roar to scare them! My mom couldn't stop me, she forbid me to do it, but I rebelled! I just don't like my brother's girlfriend," confessed Mahane before a crying spell overtook her.

"My mom keeps telling me to stop peeing out of the nest but it's more fun to pee from above than on the ground, oh pee moth," yelled Inyange while crying.

After the youngsters finished they continued their noisy grieving as they looked to the ground.

"Pee moth, is that what you call me? Why," asked Mothra strictly. "Is it because an idiot of your kind peed on me?"

"No," replied Kesho still weeping. "It's because you appear in badly-behaved kids' dreams, get close to them in their dreams and screech scaring them so much that they wake up noticing they peed under themselves in the nest," explained the boy.

"I don't do that. Until I met that old, grey male of your kind, I didn't even know that your kind exists! From where did you hear this," she wondered.

"My uncle King Kong told me," replied Amal's son.

Little did the young gorillas know that their disappearance had been already noticed and a search party consisting of Kong, Terk, Amal and the other 3 kids' mothers had already caught up with them and had been listening to their conversation with the giant moth from the start whilst hiding behind some bushes in the forest. When the silverback heard his name, he and the other adults crawled out from behind the bushes and cautiously neared the ones in conversation.

"Excuse me miss, I am his half-uncle, which he refers to me as uncle, my wife, Terkina, and I made up the pee moth story to get our half-nephew, Kesho, to listen to his mother, Amal, who is my half-sister. So Kesho has been giving his mother a hard time lately, she tried several ways to discipline him, they didn't work in the long run, we thought we'd give a scary story a try, but we see that this backfired. Moreover the Old, the oldest silverback in our band, claims that he saw you and interacted with you, but we assumed that he made it up because we find him a source of information to whom we cannot give full credibility. So up until now we didn't even believe that you are real. We are sorry for what we caused. Terk and I just wanted to help Amal solve a parenting problem," explained King Kong.

"My name is Mothra. I understand. I have a caterpillar as you can see, she's my daughter. By the way I came here to lay my egg and raise her. This place seemed calm but I was mistaken. Only after I laid the egg did I realize that there are carnivorous dinosaurs here. When I left it unattended and was on my way to find food I caught 3 tyrannosaurus-rexes approaching it. I had to turn back immediately and fight them off. I killed them for food so that I wouldn't have to leave my egg at all. Days later it hatched. Luckily for us, actually for my daughter, there was left over dinosaur meat, which she devoured in 2 days then, she shed and increased in size. She was hungry again, she is always hungry, it's incredible how much food she consumes a day and how fast she grows. I have had parenting problems too and one still lingers, it is disobedience, the same problem the parents of your offspring have. Currently I have been trying to explain to her in an understandable way, when she questions me or doesn't listen to me, what happens if she would do what I say and what happens if she doesn't. If she has further questions I answer them. Well, if this doesn't work, I don't think it's my fault since I did the best I can to persuade her into making a good choice, but sometimes, children just have to learn things the hard way by making mistakes, we can't always control their every move. Yesterday we saw an abandoned baby brontosaurus on the other side of this clearing. She wanted to go see it. I told her that its mother may be nearby and may be watching her child. If she goes close to it, its mother may count her as a threat and will attack her as a result to protect it. I would protect my kid if some creature, who I think would pose as a threat, would draw close to her, I also added. She disregarded my warnings and crawled off to where the dinosaur was. It was startled by her and began crying to its mother who suddenly burst out of the woods, swiveled around and slapped my daughter on the face with her tail. My daughter quickly returned to me crying, I comforted her and we discussed what had happened and why it happened. She's learned her lesson about baby animals," expounded Mothra.

"We haven't tried explaining to our kids what would occur if they obey and what the outcome would be of disobedience. Among us 3 are beginners in parenting, we have had 1 child so far," explained Amal. "Shinda, have you had any trouble with Keyta's obedience when he was a kid?"

"Not really. I didn't have to do explaining to him about the outcomes of obedience or disobedience because punishing him always worked on him. I guess Mahane is different in this case and regarding parenting it doesn't seem one method goes for every child," she responded. "I count myself a beginner too, I have an adult son besides my daughter and I just found out that my daughter needs to be reared differently," she added.

The mothers called their spiritually and emotionally worn out children to them. They thanked Mothra for the advice. The gorillas retreated to their nests.


	19. Problems & announcements gone wrong

Problems & announcements gone wrong

After 3 months of being boyfriend and girlfriend Fari and Inkesha became life-mates. On that certain day after courtship they returned to their nests which they began joining to make it mutual. Terk who got back from foraging witnessed the process and caught sight of a red, hibiscus-like flower that had been put behind Inkesha's ear.

"You got married," she asked visually studying the couple.

"Yes," her friend replied happily, "But don't tell anyone yet. We want to announce this when we meet tonight with everyone," she requested.

"Congratulations," answered Terkina. "One more question. Was that flower given to you for that occasion?"

"Thanks. Yes, Fari placed it behind my ear after mating to show that he's claimed me," explained Inkesha.

"That's cool," said Terk. "By the way, you're not the only one who plans to make her announcement tonight," she added. "Kurudi also intends to make hers too. I don't know what it is, as I was searching for food I passed Keyta and her and the sentence "we'd like to announce it tonight" caught my attention."

"Hm... I'm not happy about this," her buddy replied a little harshly. "I wonder what she may want to tell us. Can't it wait for another day? Only ONCE in a life-time on one particular day do you become one's life-mate," she reasoned.

"True," said Kong's mate.

"I suspect it has to do with..." started Fari but was interrupted by Terk's signaling for him to stay quiet, since the female caught sight of Keyta and his wife approaching.

After the pair crept by and was out of hearing distance Terkina suggested Fari and Inkesha come to her and her husband's nest so as not to speak so loud. Her friends took her advice.

"So, I suspect it has to do with Kurudi's weight gain and swollen breasts," he said.

"Yeah, I think so too," replied Terk.

"Same here," responded King Kong. "If it is what we're thinking of I'm curious how Keyta is going to cope with the changes in his life."

"I'd like to know that too. Mahane is not going to be glad, she loathes Kurudi," said Inkesha.

"Kong and I babysat her yesterday. The poor girl was unhappy. We tried cheering her up by taking her to the beach. She was excited at the beginning. Then, we read her facial expression and deducted something seemed to bother her. We tried finding this out by asking indirect questions such as "Having fun," then, "What's wrong," then, she opened up to us about her problem. She told us that she misses the old times with Keyta when he was still single and they had fun together. She mentioned that she greatly dislikes his wife which started when he and she began getting closer to each other and spending more time with each other. She felt like she was stealing her brother from her and this has made her sad. As a result she interacted less and less with Kurudi whilst trying to interact more with her brother. As time went by Keyta and his girlfriend tightened their bond and became more distant from Mahane. That's when she tried to repeatedly ruin their dates by unnoticeably following them, then jumping out of her hiding place while roaring to scare them in hopes of making them split. She didn't get the desired result, but the couple told her mother about this each time she did it and this caused her to get into trouble every time. Her mother had to put a lot of effort into talking her out of this behavior and explaining to her that there's a high chance that she won't succeed in making them break up because they truly love each other. Mahane gave up sneaking up on them and frightening them, instead she told Kurudi when she was alone that Keyta mated with Inkesha. Her plan failed: the female said that Keyta already told her of this mistake. When Mahane received news that they became life-mates this displeased her. This is when she decided that she will no more interact with his brother, but greet him if she has to since her mother requires it. She started spending less and less time with family and more and more time with friends, other adults, including Kong and I, and she even started bonding with Mothra and her caterpillar. Days ago Keyta and her mate visited his mother and sister. Guess who wasn't thrilled to see them especially when she noticed changes in Kurudi's body. She assumed the same things we have so far, that she's pregnant. She just sat silently during the visit and talked if spoken to giving short answers. She felt uncomfortable and sorrowful and didn't want to be with her family, especially with her brother and his mate. When it became too much for her she then, asked to be excused, but Shinda didn't want her to leave. She suddenly felt cross and the idea of presenting Mothra's daughter to her family popped into her head. She said to Shinda that she just wants to show them her new friend and the unseeing Shinda let her fetch her. What motivated Mahane was to show her family that she doesn't want to be controlled excessively by her mother and she also wanted to scare and make them freak out deliberately, because they aroused negative feelings in her, she wanted to get revenge on them due to this. She considers Keyta "dead," because he has changed, he has found a wife, he's probably going to be a father and she feels he has been neglecting her. She blames him for finding a mate and blames Kurudi for ruining her relationship with her brother, taking him from her, as an outcome she hates Kurudi. So, she hurried straight to Mothra and said that she wants to introduce her new friend, the caterpillar, to her family. Mothra let her daughter go with her. I think you know the rest from here, a huge caterpillar plowing through the jungle is quite a site," expounded Terk.

"Yeah, she arrived sitting on top of her, I have never seen such a humongous caterpillar before! That thing was knocking down and destroying bushes and saplings in the way as she crept. She spooked most of the troop. It was funny when Mahane shouted "Make way, lady with a caterpillar coming through," multiple times," said Fari.

"I was at my mother's nest on that day which is close to Shinda's. If I haven't told you Terk and Kong, my mother and I made peace. She still doesn't agree with my choice but she said it's up to me. So, my mother and I were watching the events from her nest. When we heard rumbling and saplings breaking, which was getting louder and louder, we glanced in the direction of the noise. We saw the creature making her way and Mahane was sitting right on top of her head. Shinda, Keyta and Kurudi were scared and started hollering to Mahane to make her stop, guess she was getting too close for comfort. My mom and I were startled a little and amazed at the same time. I climbed down from my mom's dwelling place and crept towards the caterpillar. She glanced at me with those glowing blue eyes and Mahane said to her that I'm a friend, by the way Mahane was interestingly quite glad to see me and got chatty with me. The way you described her behavior with her family and the way she acted with me differ significantly like night and day. Maybe she acted this way because I mated with Keyta before and hoped, especially in Kurudi, my presence will awake negative memories, facts about me and feelings regarding that mistake? So I had an opportunity to get an up close look at her. Mahane introduced her to us, but couldn't finish because Kurudi whispered something into Shinda's ear, and Shinda tried to get Mahane to make her new friend leave by saying that Keyta and Kurudi are afraid of her. Before Mahane could react Mothra's daughter sneezed several times with short times in between and spat silk during every sneeze at the couple as a result. We could say that they ended up webbed. The silk, which the critter released, turned out to be sticky. As Keyta and Kurudi pulled it off of themselves they ended up rooting some of their fur out. Shinda got angry and told her daughter to make her buddy go back to where she came from. Mahane said to her that she had to sneeze and couldn't help it. Shinda said that the caterpillar has got to go. Mahane said okay then, they started departing the same way they came. Shinda said not her, Mothra's daughter. Mahane told her that if the caterpillar goes, she goes with her and then, asked me if I would like to join her and her friend, they are going back to Mothra. I said yes because you know, I'm interested in insects, I wanted to see the giant moth. What I had known so far of her is the Old's and your reports and the pee moth story. Mahane and I went to Mothra with the caterpillar followed by Kesho, Inyange and Shabani. Then, we arrived to the meadow where Mothra was consuming a fresh-caught deceased whale. I didn't think she was that large! I got to know her a little, she told me the same things she said to you excluding the parenting tips for Amal. Other than Mothra what was interesting was Mahane's behavior. She asked me why Keyta and I didn't end up becoming life-mates after mating. I tried satisfying her curiosity with the answer of our mating being a thoughtless mistake because we hardly knew each other and I moved on since then and became Fari's girlfriend. She frowned and said "okay" after a long silence. Next, she suddenly changed the topic and began complaining about her family. She told me things similar to what you have told us, but she opened up to me about her mother. She stated that Shinda makes her stay in company when she wants to leave and that she didn't even try to attempt to find out that she has spiritual problems, she's had enough of her mother and now she doesn't want to share her problems nor be with her. She ended her monologue that I and Keyta would have been so good together with tears appearing in her eyes. I was speechless," reported Inkesha.

"Wow, I didn't know you got up close and personal with the caterpillar and that she ended up webbing Keyta and Kurudi," exclaimed Terk ignoring the discreet facial expressions of the others, who tried to signal to her to stop because Keyta and his mate were nearing. "And I have a suspicion why Mahane..." She couldn't finish, Kurudi interrupted. What Kong's mate suspected is that Keyta's sister was trying to reach out to Inkesha, get close to her and try to manipulate her into getting back together with Keyta. Inkesha was the ideal choice for Mahane if Keyta wanted a mate because she didn't want to have children. If Keyta and Inkesha became life-mates Mahane would be their "child," she would gain a new and better mother with who she may have better experiences than with the old one and her brother would have more time for her than in the case if he had a family of his own.

"Yeah, look what the silk did to our fur," Kurudi said a little angrily. "Why did Mahane have to bring that thing home?"

King Kong, Terkina, Fari and Inkesha stayed silent and at times looked at each other or sighed.

"She doesn't like you, Kurudi, maybe she wanted to scare you with her," answered Keyta breaking the quietness.

"Why doesn't she like me? I've never done any harm to her," she replied.

Kong, Fari and their mates kept quiet.

"I don't know. She's been drifting further and further from our family, including my mom and me and she had been trying to break us up. It's sad..." responded Keyta a little downcast.

"Uh, Kong and I babysat Mahane yesterday and she revealed to us the causes of her behavior. She also shared some details with Inkesha which complete our information," replied Terk.

"Why has she been acting so strange," asked the amber-eyed male.

"Uh... I think I should speak with Mahane first about this if she wills. Inkesha, if she doesn't want to talk with me or if she wants to talk with both of us would you be in," enquired Terkina.

"Yes, I feel sorry for the kid," she replied with pity.

"I don't want to reveal this without Mahane's consent, she was open and honest with Inkesha and I and not with her family. After one or both of us discuss her issues with her we will tell her that it's important for her mother to know these, so that she would be able to understand her and act differently towards her. If Mahane is in I think it would be good for Mahane and her mother to talk the problems over maybe in our presence so that we would assure the conversation flows in the right direction and help in communication if necessary. If she's not in we would converse with Shinda anyway but in private this is for Mahane's sake as well. If the talk with her mother is successful and if Mahane wants to she might let you in on these problems or let her mother talk with you, there may be a higher prospect of the latter happening. So, long story short, there's a long and uncertain way of your getting answers," explained Kong's wife.

"Okay," replied Kurudi's mate disappointedly. "Well thanks..."

He wanted to continue with 'for nothing' but didn't continue the sentence just sighed greatly from where he left off.

"I miss the old Mahane not this one," he complained. "I am worried about how she'll react when our announcement, that Kurudi is going to make tonight, reaches her," he added. "I'd like this to stay in our circle of friends until you, Inkesha and my mom settle things. Would you and Inkesha start intervening as soon as possible?"

"Yes," replied Terkina.

"Okay," responded Inkesha. "By the way, Fari and I have an announcement to make tonight as well," she added slightly annoyed.

"We were assured today to make ours," said Keyta's wife with a pinch of anger. "Can you make yours on another day?"

"We didn't plan to, something really great happened to Fari and me this day," she answered. "I ask you the same question."

"We are 100% sure from today," debated Kurudi. "How about you?"

"So are we, what happened today involving us is official, it cannot be undone, it's definite," replied Inkesha. "We're not moving our announcement to another day."

"Neither are we," retorted the other girl.

Both ladies ran out of reasons they began glowering at each other.

"Come on, Kurudi, let's head back to our nest," suggested Keyta noticing the conflict.

The pair crawled back to their resting place.

Afternoon shifted into evening. Banagi, Keyta, Isuku, King Kong, Fari, Terkina, Kurudi and Inkesha got together.

"I have an announcement to make," shouted Keyta's mate.

Everyone quieted themselves excluding Inkesha.

"I'd like to announce something too, something once in a lifetime," she hollered.

Kurudi's face displayed anger, she narrowed her brownish orange eyes. Inkesha reacted the same way, even bore her shiny teeth.

"Keyta and I..." she suddenly started, but failed to deliver the rest of the message in an understandable way due to Inkesha's words "Fari and I" overpowering hers in volume.

The mad females began creeping close to each other towards the center of the assembly in which the seeds of seriousness and tension germinated.

"Bat fight, bat fight," chanted Banagi for fun.

"There will be no bat fight," exclaimed Keyta strictly.

The females began debating similarly as they had done earlier. Keyta decided to be near them if physical violence were to break out among them to intervene. Kurudi grabbed the beautiful flower behind Inkesha's ear and threw it on the ground. Fari's mate became shocked, she would have slapped her opponent across the face as retaliation, but she backed away.

"That flower was a gift from Fari to me for the occasion of us becoming life-mates today," she blared to smolder any attempt of Kurudi butting in and making her announcement audible while she was. "And you ruined it," she added just as vociferously and enraged.

She sauntered back next to her husband. Everyone remained silent.

"Keyta and I are expecting," said Kurudi.

Banagi and Isuku congratulated Keyta and his wife while King Kong, Terkina, Fari and Inkesha didn't utter any words. No one was in the mood to start conversations with their friends. Everyone gradually returned to their nests. Fari picked another flower, identical to the old one, for his wife and placed it behind her ear.


	20. New arrivals

New additions

Fari and Inkesha, who have been married for 6 months, spent some days alone not far from the band as other monogamous couples did at times. They spent 5 days together, just the two of them. On their last day in the late afternoon as they began passing by some shrubs growing dark green, spade-shaped leaves striped with reddish veins, grievous crying became audible. The couple indicated the bushes as the source of the noise.

"It sounds like a baby crying," said the female.

"Yeah," responded the white male. "It may be. Let's check."

The gorillas approached the plants and spread apart their branches. They discovered an albino male infant about the age of 9 months lying next to the stems of the shrubs. When he noticed the adults he stopped giving distressed calls and looked at them with heart-sunk light blue eyes.

"I want my mommy," he squeezed out.

"When and where did you last see your mommy," enquired Inkesha in a concerned way as she crawled deeper into the greenery to pick the baby up.

"I don't know. She took me off of her back and put me here yesterday afternoon after feeding me and told me to wait here, she'll be back. I fell asleep, I woke up in the morning and I didn't see her. I waited for her but she didn't come. Then, I cried for her but she didn't come. I'm very hungry," he answered disappointedly in tears as the girl was lifting him off of the ground and bringing him nearer her.

Before holding him close, Fari's mate examined him visually. He seemed healthy, his fur was soft and shiny, not unkempt, nor dirty, he wasn't underweight, and he was about the size he was supposed to be.

"It seems his mother abandoned him. I don't know of any other troop having albinos except mine. He may be from my band," concluded the white male.

His mate cuddled him, the boy didn't refuse.

"She left him yesterday afternoon, the troop had plenty of time to rove off. I'm unsure we would be able to find them, moreover if we would venture too far we might encounter Sharam and it wouldn't end well for either of us. He's pretty strong and has a horrible nature, I don't think you'd be able to protect us from him," expounded Fari's wife.

"Then, I guess we have to take him home. We can't just leave him out here to starve," said the male.

"Right. How am I going to feed him? I have no milk! There are some women in the band who had babies not too long ago including my mother. I don't know who would want to allow him to suckle. I'm not friends with those other ladies, my only female friend is Terk, who hasn't any milk either. My mom seems to be the only hope so far..." complained Inkesha.

"If your mom doesn't give in we're going to have to try the other females. If this is the case I suggest we ask for help together, maybe my presence alongside yours will convince them into feeding him," advised Fari. "By the way it is possible for a female who isn't pregnant to lactate. This happened in my band. A young lady, who has never even mated before adopted the baby of another woman who rejected her. Within 2-3 weeks she began making milk. What helped her was consuming an herb that aids lactation on a regular basis, allowing the baby to stimulate the function of her breasts by letting it suckle and having support in the..." he informed her, his tone gradually getting more and more depressing and desperate until his negative emotions defeated his power to speak.

He burst out in tears.

"Fari, what's wrong," asked his mate.

"It's not a good thing," he groaned and kept weeping.

"What's not good," asked the female.

"My problem," he squeezed out. "You'll be split from this point on between him and me. This is really going to change our marriage. I'm already jealous of him. Inkesha, I miss you already if you know what I mean...," he continued in tears.

"I know... we'll have less alone time for each other. He requires a lot of attention but as he grows older he'll require less," she, acknowledging the gravity of the changes described by her husband, answered sadly then, continued whispering very quietly and dismally to Fari, "I really miss you too, I understand that you're jealous. This is not how we wanted to live our lives, I never wanted to be a mom, never, now, within a second I became one!"

She released a loud sigh and started shedding tears.

"I'm hungry," said the baby.

The white silverback's wife cleared her throat, took a breath and managed to answer her new adopted son.

"We'll head back to the troop and find a way to feed you," she replied melancholically.

"Why don't you feed me," he asked.

"I can't, I don't have any milk, but I will make some for you and then, I'll be able to feed you," she responded. "There are some females in the troop that can give you milk. We'll ask them to feed you. Now, let's go back to the band," she added.

Inkesha placed him on her back and the couple started wondering to their destination. During their journey they noticed some giant moths similar in color and design to cecropia silk moths fluttering around a dense bush spotted with sweet, pleasant smelling, yellow, funnel-shaped flowers.

"Look over there," chimed Inkesha glancing at the winged insects.

She began creeping close to them.

"Mommy, I'm scared," declared the albino baby whilst laying low on the gorilla lady's back.

"You don't have to be afraid. They're just moths. They don't bite, they won't hurt you. They may fly around you or land on you," she explained.

The infant still remained low for a short while then, gradually rose to see the critters.

"The ones on the leaves are fatter than the flying ones. Are they too fat to fly," he enquired.

"They look fat because they are full of eggs, they're girls and the ones fluttering around them are boys," she expounded. "The girls can fly despite their size."

Inkesha reached towards a female moth sitting on a leaf. She carefully neared her pointer finger towards her head. The moth placed its front legs then, the other pairs on her finger as she moved it. Fari carefully approached his mate and the infant not to scare away the insect.

"Mommy, can we take her with us," asked the boy.

"Yes, we can," she replied as she placed her hand closer and closer to Fari's upper back.

"What are you doing," he responded uncomfortably, widening his sky blue eyes.

"Putting the moth on your back, so that we can take her home," she answered. "Now, hold still."

The female gingerly situated the moth on her mate's back. The apes wondered home.

As the events involving Inkesha, Fari and their adopted son were unfolding so were the ones regarding Terkina and King Kong. The couple was resting in their nest when they herd the loud human chanting of Terk's name which the humid air conveyed.

"Seems our humans want you," said the silverback glancing at her with his yellow eyes.

"Interesting. Ever since you introduced me to them they have called us together," answered his mate.

"Want me to go with you," offered the male.

"Yes," responded Terk.

The gorillas sauntered down to the wall which the tribe of the unknown race stood on whilst anticipating their arrival. After creeping between the trees and shrubs they caught site of an adult female of their species having the same hairstyle as Terk. The dark-skinned people having spotted the ape couple finished saying Kong's wife's name and began ogling in a confused way at the similar looking ladies who were also studying each other visually. The Terk look-alike was older than Terk, a few silver hairs stood out from the raven black ones on her head, her breasts were larger than Terk's and her eyes were orange in color.

"Ukuri," uttered the older female questioningly while looking at King Kong's life-mate.

"Who's Ukuri," asked the female.

"She was my first child," replied the lady nearly identical to Terk. "She was taken away from me when I was unconscious. She had the same eye color as you do and her hair stood up like ours. When I became conscious again I saw that she was missing," she expounded then, winced in pain. "My lower belly is really hating me right now! Speaking of that, two months after I had her I menstruated when I wasn't supposed to and it was more painful than usual, I even fainted. After a while I woke up without her near me," she added.

"That's interesting. I never knew my mother. A human ex-friend of mine told me that they found my mother and me together near a jungle. They told me that my mom was dead then, they took me away. I was raised by them," explained Terkina. "By the way I rarely have hard periods during which I pass out. I have had 3 of those so far in my life."

"I met humans too. When I wondered further from the troop they launched something small and blackish at my nose which broke into pieces. As I inhaled I felt more and more light-headed then, passed out. When I woke up, I found myself bound on some unknown place that was moving on blue water. The humans noticed I was awake and threw a wet towel on my face. I passed out again. They kept watch of me, every time I would wake up, they'd put the towel on my face and I'd lose consciousness. Not too long ago I woke up on this island. The humans here gave me a noisy welcome. They kept chanting "terk". What is a terk," she replied.

"What they threw at you is a substance that makes you pass out, it's kept in nearly black bottles. It's strange that they steal you from the wild and bring you here. Wait, you're not from Skull Island. By the way this place is called Skull Island. My human ex-friend told me that my mother is not from Skull Island and neither am I. Our stories are related, we look quite alike, we're not from Skull Island and you have hard periods at times when I do. Could you be my mother? By the way my name's Terkina, but you can call me Terk for short," answered the younger female.

"My name's Ishema. Ukuri would look just like you at your age. I remember her scent. Can I smell you," asked the older gorilla lady.

"Okay," said Terk.

The female approached her and began sniffing her. The results shocked her.

"You must be Ukuri," she exclaimed. "You're my long lost daughter! But how is Terkina your name?"

Ishema hugged her newly found daughter. Terkina returned the embrace and discovered her mother's scent is quite related to hers. Both females were very happy. They parted, studied each other visually then, held each other close again only tighter and longer this time. The tribe of humans, who were amazed, watched them.

"The humans have called me Terk or Terkina as long as I can remember. I guess Terk is my human name but Ukuri is my gorilla name that you gave me," she answered. "The people that found us may have thought that you're dead by the way."

"So, now I have a mother-in-law," asked King Kong.

The older gorilla looked at the silverback. Her daughter and she let go of each other.

"Ukuri, who's this gorgeous male," Ishema asked.

"Mom, this is King Kong. He's my life-mate. We've almost been together as mates for 10 years," she replied.

"Do you have a child," she enquired.

"No, we don't, we don't want kids," answered Kong's wife.

"How did you two meet? You also mentioned that humans brought you up. How," wondered Terk's mom.

"We'll tell you about these things on the way home," responded her daughter.

The 3 apes roved back to the troop while Ishema got acquainted with Terk and Kong and vice versa. Fari's and King Kong's family arrived at their band via routes differing from each other's in the early nighttime. They caught sight of a crowd consisting of mostly females surrounding Keyta's and Kurudi's nest. It turned out that Kurudi recently gave birth to Keyta's daughter.

"I'm very hungry," said Little Fari in a desperate tone.

Inkesha had named her adopted son after her mate. His original name was quite inappropriate, which made the couple appalled.

"We're going right now to find you a female that can feed you," replied Inkesha.

Terk's party neared Inkesha's, the members greeted each other and got acquainted. Ishema, having never seen albinos before, asked why Fari and his adoptive son are a different color. The white silverback explained his and his infant's condition to her then, asked her, having noticed her swollen breasts, if she has got milk.

"I have plenty of milk, I'll nurse your baby," she replied while taking the boy.

He urgently latched on and hungrily drank.

"How do you have milk when you're menstruating and don't have a child," questioned her daughter.

"About 2 months ago I had a miscarriage. I was pregnant from a silverback who lost a fight with his opponent, they were fighting over me. I felt bad for the loser and chose him, which made the winner enraged. 7 months after our mating, when I was alone, his rival snuck up on me from behind, yanked me back making me expose my belly, which he forcefully punched. Then, I miscarried. I haven't processed this trauma yet," she dolefully answered.

"Sorry to hear that," said Terk.

"Sorry, you lost your baby," responded Inkesha. "Speaking of baby, would you nurse Little Fari until I will be able to make milk, moreover enough of it for him," requested Inkesha.

"Yes," replied Ishema.

"Thank you very much," she gratefully said. "You have saved him. The only females I'm in good relations with are my mother, who is also breastfeeding, and Terk. It would have been unpleasant for me to ask the other women and even my mom a bit since Little Fari is albino and because he's different they probably wouldn't have done it out of free will or would have rejected us saying that they don't have enough milk for two. Moreover I barely know the other girls and I differ greatly from them," she added.

"You're welcome," she replied warmly. "You're different as the way Ukuri described, right?"

"Yes," answered Fari's wife.

The white male gently made the moth crawl on his hand while reaching back then, showed everyone the creature.

"Woah," exclaimed Terk's mother. "That thing is huge!"

"Yeah," answered the adult albino. "These are one of the biggest moth species here on Skull Island. This one we found when bringing the baby home. It's female. He wanted us to bring her with us, so we can say this is his pet," he added.

The creature, having a body length the same length as two thirds of a giant gorilla's finger, slowly opened and closed her mostly grayish reddish wings.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to place the moth on the bush next to our nest," said Fari.

He succeeded in slowly and cautiously approaching the lime green-leafed shrub dotted with vivid tangerine, simple flowers then, situated the creature on one of them who began sipping nectar with her long, thin proboscis. The gathering of his species around his friend's nest had already dispersed, everyone among them had wandered back to his or her own dwelling place. The male was so occupied with settling Little Fari's new pet and with his thoughts about the unplanned changes in his life that he was blind to his surroundings which included Keyta and his new family. After finishing his business he hurried back to his party. Keyta and Kurudi, having observed his seemingly negligent behavior, became offended not only at him but at his party, who were also occupied with themselves. The new parents studied the group. They were surprised to discover that there was a foreign female among them, whose looks matched Terk's from their distance, who seemed to be cradling something in her arms. Seconds later, Little Fari felt full and Ishema returned him to Inkesha. What also shocked Keyta and Kurudi was the sight of the albino baby. What they witnessed raised questions in them such as who is the Terk look-alike and how does she end up on the island when Terk isn't a native and was Inkesha secretly pregnant. The group of 5 finished meaningfully conversing. Ishema began making her nest among the ones of her new family and friends, King Kong and Terkina headed back to theirs and prepared for a good night's sleep. Fari, Inkesha and Little Fari were also ready to sleep. Not having enough room in the nest for three, their new baby slept on the female's chest and belly. All of these apes had forgotten about Keyta's and Kurudi's new arrival. The next day when they had noticed the pair's new family member they had congratulated them and apologized for being late on this because they were very busy with each other and their new arrivals. Keyta and his mate understood this and also congratulated Fari and Inkesha for their new addition.


	21. A day in the life of Little Fari

A day in the life of Little Fari

One humid, overcast morning Fari and Inkesha woke up earlier than Little Fari who was still sleeping next to his adoptive mother. The baby had been a member of their family for a month now. Days ago he had learnt to creep like an adult. The parents having noticed their little one was still snoozing turned to face each other then, whispered with one another for a while then, embraced and showed appropriate, even for very young audiences if their son would witness them, forms of affection. After a short time the baby's light blue eyes opened and he regained his hearing having drifted into consciousness. He felt hungry, his first instinct was to tell his mother that, but he observed her and his father clinging tightly together. He pondered about whether he should disturb them or not. He chose to wait patiently. As he was lying in the nest, he was looking at his surroundings to make the time pass faster. He studied the leafy crowns of the trees, ranging from the hues of lime green to forest green, swishing in the wind. After losing interest in these plants his curious gaze shifted to the inhabitants of the bush beside the nest. His pet moth had left the day after she had been brought home but she left a surprise: eggs! Since then, they had hatched, their dwellers, mint green, fleshy, ravenous caterpillars had occupied the shrub. The critters were almost fully grown, they were only the size of two thirds of a giant gorilla's finger, but since Little Fari was quite small they seemed huge to him. The boy sat up to get a closer look at them. They didn't mind their watcher just continued diligently munching on the leaves. They started from a chosen point on one side then, moved their upper body to the other side whilst consuming the leaf, their heads tracing a curve in the process. After devouring a row of leaf parts like this they went on with the row in front of this one in the same way. The little albino gorilla leaned closer. The nearest caterpillar lifted its head and thorax then, opened and closed its dark brown mandibles while moving its 3 pairs of rust-colored true legs closer and farther from each other. Little Fari thought this display was sort of funny. Being motivated by his increasing, unsatisfied hunger he looked at his mother. Since she was still busy with her mate the infant decided to head towards Ishema. On his short journey he witnessed that Terk's mother's nest was vacant and that in King Kong's and Terk's nest she was sleeping next to Terk. He didn't know at first glance which was the daughter and which was the mother who breastfed him after Inkesha whose milk supply was still a little inadequate to fully end his hunger. The idea of visually checking the females' breasts didn't come to his mind. He just chose the lady sleeping next to the silverback and started suckling. Terkina began feeling a warm, wet, sucking sensation on her teat which annoyed and disgusted her at the same time.

"Kong, stop, that's nasty," she said a little sternly without opening her large, greenish brown eyes, desiring to fall back asleep.

The male became conscious and turned to his wife.

"Stop what," he asked.

"What you're doing, you know well what it is" replied Terk a little sharply, who still kept her eyes shut.

"I didn't do anything," he answered calmly.

Anger conceived in the female, her eyes popped open, and the negative emotion manifested on her face. She looked at her husband, but she was surprised to notice it wasn't him who was latched on to her. The male shifted his gaze towards her chest then, back at her. His wife looked at the source of the physical sensation, she was taken aback by its sight.

"Little Fari," she called.

The baby stopped trying to feed and raised his head. Confusion could be deducted from his facial expression.

"I'm not Ishema, I'm Terk. You mixed me up with Ishema. To tell us apart, look at our eyes or breasts. I have greenish brown eyes, Ishema's eyes are orange. My breasts are smaller because I have no milk, Ishema's are larger because they are full of milk," expounded Kong's mate. "Ishema is still sleeping, let's wake her up," she added.

"Okay. How are we gonna do that," enquired the white infant.

"With this," announced the young female after sitting up and picking up the multicolored feather she had found one time while foraging with Kong. "We're going to make her sneeze."

Terkina started tickling her mother's nose with the tip of the feather, King Kong and Little Fari watched with expectation. Ishema's nose twitched, but when her daughter directed the end of the feather into her nostril, Ishema sneezed herself awake. The boy found it interesting that it actually worked. The older female gave Terk a stern look, the little male giggled at this.

"Where is he," exclaimed Inkesha having noticed her boy's absence.

"I don't know," shouted Fari in an alarmed way.

"Little Fari is with us," hollered King Kong.

The parents hastily crept towards the silverback and the two females.

"Little Fari, you really had us worried," scolded the albino's mate. "You left us without telling us you want to go somewhere and where you want to go! Because of this we didn't know where you were when we saw you weren't in the nest! You had us scared! Next time, don't leave us without telling us that you want to leave and also tell us where you want to go."

"Why do I have to tell you if I want to go somewhere and where I want to go," enquired the baby.

"You need to tell us that because we need to go with you and know where you are. You're very little, you're not even a year old yet, you're vulnerable and also different from most of the troop because of your looks. You may not understand why but it's best that we escort you to places and know where you are," explained Inkesha. "So, when you want to go somewhere please tell us that and we'll go with you. This way we will know where you are and you won't end up scaring us like you did this morning," she added.

"Okay," replied the boy.

"Inkesha, Little Fari left you because he wanted milk from my mother," chimed in Terk.

"Oh, I was occupied with Fari, I understand now why Little Fari ventured away. Little Fari, the next time you're hungry and want milk let me know, even when I am busy and I'll feed you," said the brownish yellow-eyed female. "I tell you again, don't wonder away on your own from us but tell us that you want to go somewhere and where you want to go and we'll go with you."

"All right," responded the boy. "I'm hungry," he added.

The female sat down, picked him up and cradled him so that he could nurse. As the infant was suckling Terkina felt something get placed on her head: her mother put her tiara on her.

"Hey," yelled Terk in an angry way at her mother while glaring at her.

"Don't give me that ugly look. You messed with me first. If you mess with me I mess with you," said Ishema strictly with an emotionless face.

"She's got a point," replied King Kong.

Ishema's daughter lifted the headdress off and situated it on her husband's head.

"My, what a beautiful bride," commented Terk in a sarcastic way.

"How adorable," replied Inkesha.

Little Fari stopped feeding, glanced at the silverback for a short while then, continued where he left off. The male took off the tiara then, put it in its original place in the nest. The adults conversed as the infant was drinking Inkesha's then, Ishema's milk. After the baby satisfied his hunger his adoptive parents and he roved to an exotic, fragrant, citric fruit tree. The adults consumed tangerine-like reddish orange fruits having a diameter of a meter. The small albino frolicked around his parents.

"You eat a lot, Mommy," he commented.

The female made a slightly annoyed face at him then, continued filling her stomach. Fari, whose face formed a suspicious smile, beckoned so that the child would near him. The little one crept up to him.

"Sometimes, your mommy eats as much as I do," he announced quietly.

His mate, who was about to place a fruit in her mouth, immediately shut her mouth and glowered at him. An innocent grin formed on the white silverback's face. Not even a minute later the infant crawled up to Inkesha and requested to be held.

"Little Fari, not now," replied his adoptive mother. "I'm still eating, I'll hold you after I'm done."

"Mommy, but I want to be held now," he melancholically protested.

"Little Fari, I'm not going to pick you up now. After I have finished eating I will," she replied partially calmly and a little annoyed.

"I'll hold you if you want," offered the white adult.

The infant crept backward and let his opinion be known as Fari reached toward him.

"No, I want my mommy," he yelled on the verge of tears.

"Okay, I won't hold you then," replied Fari a little tensely. "Your mommy will pick you up after she finishes eating. If she doesn't eat enough you won't have enough milk to drink," explained the adult male trying to suppress the stress in his tone.

"I want my mommy, now," he howled even louder while sobbing.

His light blue eyes, reflecting sadness, were watering.

"She'll hold you after she's done eating, not now," responded his adoptive father, a fully grown version of him, dryly, looking down at him with a stone face.

The little albino started crying noisily. His parents exchanged nervous looks with each other and let the adopted offspring carry on. They knew well that they can't always say "yes" to a child nor let him have his way every time. If they were to do that the kid would become more and more unmanageable as he ages, more disrespectful to others and become a rebellious adult and not take orders from the troop leaders which would cause him to get into trouble. Inkesha finished consuming to her heart's content, she and her husband waited for their son to stop shedding tears.

"Little Fari, I can hold you if you want me to," said Inkesha.

The tired boy looked up at her without saying a word.

"Son, it's time that you know that you can't always have everything your way. I won't always hold you when you want me to. I won't always do things when you ask me to, neither will your father, nor others. I won't always do some things that you ask of me, neither will your father nor others. There are rules that you should follow that are for your own good even if you don't feel like obeying them. There's nesting time for example. If you would go to sleep past that time, you wouldn't get enough sleep and feel bad, you'd be sleepy and cranky. Remember when you stayed up way past nesting time? You remember how awful you felt the next day," expounded then, reasoned the female.

"Yes," answered the baby quietly.

"Do you understand that you can't always have your way? Do you understand that there are rules that you should follow and that these rules are for your own good," enquired Fari's mate.

"Yes," replied the infant the same way as he did previously. "Why didn't you hold me," he asked in an offended way.

"I didn't pick you up because I was eating. I wanted to finish eating without being interrupted. I thought that you should wait for me to get done. Since you still kept wanting me to pick you up when I didn't want to we decided it's time that you learn that you can't always have your way. I know, this was painful for you, but this was for your own good, we wanted to teach you a lesson, not to hurt you," explained Inkesha.

Little Fari kept silent.

"Now, do you want me to hold you," asked the lady gorilla.

"Yes," responded the boy.

The female picked up her adopted son and cuddled him. The white silverback crawled behind his mate, sat down, scooted as close to her as if they were fused together and hugged her tightly from behind. As he was squeezing her, his arms wrapped around her waist and belly, he rubbed his face against the side of her head. His wife had observed his more affectionate behavior ever since she and Fari adopted the baby. It wasn't quite clear to her why her mate was displaying this kind of behavior but she conjectured that it had to do with her being divided between him and the child. Inkesha turned her head towards the male's and returned the gesture. A while later they parted, the female placed Little Fari on the ground and the three wondered back to their nest. The little white male yawned, which indicated it was time for his nap. Inkesha scooped him up and cradled him. He soon dozed off. As he was snoozing, the adults were talking. When he drifted into deep sleep the female slowly and gingerly laid him in the nest.

"I'll be back soon," said Inkesha's husband. "I need to go."

"Okay," replied the lady.

Little did Fari's mate know that Keyta was watching her and her family from behind a shrub. The amber-eyed male slowly and gradually approached her, silently drawing closer and closer to her back. He had noted in his mind the albino silverback's new behavioral patterns which had started from Little Fari's addition to his family. He sat down behind his hapless victim and scooted nearer to her, they made physical contact: he nestled to her and embraced her, he held on tight.

"Fari, you're back already? You were quick," commented Inkesha quietly in a little astonished way. "Woah, not too tight! I just had breakfast. I don't want to lose it. Or you could hug under my stomach, if you want to squeeze me," she added.

Keyta slid his muscular, soot-colored arms onto her lower belly and embraced her tightly while rubbing his face against the side of her head. The female was enjoying this form of affection so much that she relaxed, closed her eyes and returned the brushing of faces to the male.

"Fari, we could do this more frequently," requested Inkesha amorously.

Right at this scene did arrive the enraged and disappointed Fari. What abomination unfolded in his sight could not be unwitnessed. The words that he heard could not be unheard.

"HEY!" roared the albino clamorously with a hideous glare on his beet-red face, his blue eyes vividly shining.

Keyta and Inkesha jerked their heads towards the quite angry male. Little Fari winced out of fright being forced out of sleep. Inkesha was shocked when she discovered her husband was standing over there. Up until that she had thought he was the one loving her. She cautiously turned her torso and head around as much as she was able to and glanced to the side. When she recognized Keyta she grabbed his wrists, swiftly and powerfully threw his arms off, popped up from her sitting place as if it were lava, urgently grabbed the baby and hurried towards her mate on threes, holding the infant in one arm against her chest. The white silverback speedily crept up to the normal-colored one, who ogled at him wide-eyed and remained in one place.

"Get out of our nest," he loudly and savagely yelled. "Don't you ever try to seduce and steal my wife away from me again, you immoral prick," he continued in the same tone and volume then, stood up on his hind legs and powerfully beat on his chest while emitting a roar. Keyta, shame-bitten and without saying a word, slunk back to his empty nest. Inkesha crawled to Fari still clutching the youngster in her arm. The color hadn't fully drained yet from the male's magenta face.

"I can't believe this," he disappointedly yelled in a quieter tone. "That was disgusting," he added more vociferously.

"Fari, I didn't know that it was Keyta behind me, I thought it was you and didn't even suspect it wasn't you, because you do what he did on a regular basis," explained his woman.

"I know," replied the albino adult dryly then, let out a frustrated sigh. "It still sickens me what I saw," he bellowed. "Touching you like that... I am going to tell his wife when she gets home," he added.

"Let's tell her together," suggested Inkesha.

"Good idea," answered the white one.

A while later Inkesha and Little Fari wondered to a place in the jungle where the herb grows which aids lactation. The albino adult watched his family depart, the baby had to crawl at a quick pace to keep up with his adoptive mother. He made sure to stay very close to her. As they made their journey those troop members who had hardly seen the infant ogled at him while speaking quietly to each other about him. Finally, they reached their destination. They weren't alone though: her mother, Mirindi, and her circle was present. These females were occupied with digging for roots or eating of the herb. Most of them had been raising infants or toddlers. The crisp snapping of dry branches on the ground, which indicated the nervous Inkesha's arrival, raised their attention. They weren't thrilled to see the female and her baby. The infant got stared at by multiple pairs of adult and child eyes at once. He perceived he was the center of unwanted attention, he even received a few strange looks and one stern glance, the latter from Indira. The boy slowly crawled under his mother to shield himself from the source of his discomfort and embarrassment. Inkesha noticed his altered behavior and swiftly found the cause: she caught her mother's acquaintances constantly eyeing him. She changed her facial expression to show disapproval and looked at her company. She decided to tear as much of the stems and leaves off the desired plant as she needed. After promptly implementing her move, she placed her loot into her mouth, then, traveled back home with her son. The male was surprised to see them back already and suspected something bad happened due to this and concluding from the plants in her mouth. He enquired from Inkesha about the events, the female expounded to him who she met and how they reacted to Little Fari. The youngster chimed into the conversation, his adoptive parents let him open up and listened to him. They comforted him, but told him he is going to get stared at, especially by strangers who have never seen an albino before, because he looks very different from an average gorilla, but he's not alone, Fari is with him. Inkesha chewed the fresh-picked herb as the white male played with the infant. Hours later not long after noon before the parents and the child were about to go foraging King Kong, Ishema and Terk, whose fur was wet, returned from their tight family get-together. They reported their time together which consisted of breakfast composed of rare and delicious fruits, meaningful conversation with each other while roving in the jungle not far from the troop then, swimming in the ocean. Besides the fun that they had they encountered Sharam on the way home. The aggressive, exiled silverback wanted to mate with Terk stating that she has a pretty face but she's fat but she'll do anyway. Kong tried avoiding a battle with him knowing that he would lose against him by lying that they had changed their mind about having children and after a lot unsuccessful trials Terk is finally pregnant, this is their first child and Ishema's first grandchild, and they don't want to lose it. Ishema was really pleased when she heard the news and questioned her daughter if this is true. The younger female had to mislead her and answered "yes." As a result Ishema became excited and was over the moon. Sharam then, said that he wants to court with Terk's mother after criticizing her exterior the same way as her daughter's. He also added that if his request to mate with either one of them is denied he will end Kong's life. Ishema intervened and said that she doesn't want her grand baby to grow up without a father and her daughter to lose her mate with who she has been with for several years. She volunteered to engage in courtship with the rogue male. After that was carried through Sharam let the party go. When Terk's husband, Terk and Ishema were out of hearing distance from the evil one moreover very near to their band, Kong and Terk fondly thanked Ishema for her sacrifice then, told her the truth about Terk's state and the reason why they had lied to Sharam and her. Ishema, although she felt disappointed, understood the couple. Little Fari, getting bored of listening to the dialogue went to one female to be picked up and held then, requested the cradling from another female. This went on until Inkesha decided to occupy him by playing with him. After the silverback, his wife and his mother-in-law finished describing the events that happened to them and warned Fari and Inkesha not to venture away from the troop when Inkesha is near estrus or in estrus, Fari and Inkesha also shared with them the things that happened to them so far, including Keyta's unfaithful behavior. When hearing the story about the cheating male the ladies were surprised, Kong wasn't taken aback by this, but strongly disapproved his friend's behavior. He let his listeners know that Keyta had been having a difficult time adjusting to his new life since Kurudi was divided between the baby and him. The amber-eyed male also blamed his wife for spending too much time with their daughter and neglecting him. He also started regretting getting into a relationship with his female in the past and letting go of Inkesha so easily after the incident. He wanted more attention from his mate and wanted her to spend more time with him. King Kong also mentioned that he had suggested to the troubled male to explain his problem to Kurudi. He didn't think Keyta took his advice. Days had passed and it seemed that specimen had come to the point where he was trying to get what he wants from another female or females, it wasn't clear to Terk's husband whether he was doing this with Fari's mate only or not. Kong agreed with the idea of telling the unfaithful one's mate about what her husband had done but suggested trying to get Keyta to open up about his problem while reporting the happenings to her in order to help solve his problem. The boy, out of curiosity, asked some questions regarding the conversation. He wanted to get acquainted with the definitions of mating and unfaithfulness, the causes of the latter. He was also curious about the details of the situation of a male being divided between a baby and his mate. The grown-ups quenched his curiosity the best that they could. The group of six set off to find food and have lunch together. Little Fari felt good among these acquaintances and liked being with them because they treated him the way an average one of his species was treated and were kind to him moreover, Ishema was like a grandmother to him instead of Inkesha's own mother. After Fari's wife and Terkina's mother breastfed the little one, Ishema babysat him as Fari and his life-mate reported Keyta's behavior to Kurudi in the presence of Keyta, and Kong and Terk told their story about encountering Sharam to the elders. In the late afternoon, after every troop-member had consumed his or her dinner there was an assembly. These get-togethers were quite rare and their causes ranked as crucial for everybody. Everyone gathered around the older, battle-scared silverbacks, whose fur shined with a hue of silver-grey not only on their backs but on their thighs, buttocks, shoulders and napes of their necks. One of them reported King Kong's, Terkina's and Ishema's encounter with Sharam out loud to the band. Another completed his report where it was necessary. A third one shared the elders' safety measures regarding these encounters. He advised females not to leave the troop on their own but with the company of at least two silverbacks. He also added that females should not leave the band when they are near or in heat to prevent unwanted pregnancy. He suggested that even males should have at least two silverbacks in their company when going further from the band. After he was finished a fourth elder strongly recommended that any offspring let it be anywhere between newborn and older teen should not leave the troop at all even in the presence of adults. The silverbacks of older age finished sharing their information, the band members dissembled, everyone returned to their nests. Fari and Inkesha got ready for a night's sleep in their dwelling place which they had expanded previously so that there was room for three. After they had believed their baby had fallen asleep they turned towards each other and embraced. Minutes later they suddenly felt something forcefully wedge itself in between their touching bodies which startled them. Judging by its size they deducted it was Little Fari, who was now making his way towards their heads after they scooted further from each other so that he wouldn't be scrunched. They cuddled him for a short while then, Inkesha placed him back on his sleeping space. The child soon drifted into sleep, from that point the parents interacted with each other then, fell asleep.


	22. The 10-year itch

The 10-year itch

King Kong and Terkina had been recently married for 10 years. Their problems started in the end of the ninth year. The silverback annoyed his wife more and more frequently by placing her tiara on her head when she wasn't looking and noisily passing gas. Terk asked him multiple times to stop. He ceased from these activities only for a short while then, continued as if nothing had happened. The male had requested several times that he and his mate should try new things but the female declined as usual. As time went on he grew bored of this marriage and took out his anger and disappointment by disturbing his wife. As weeks passed their 10-year anniversary came. Knowing this was a very special occasion they were so excited as newlyweds on a honeymoon and their conflicts seemed to vanish. The morning after this day the problems reared their ugly heads again, moreover they had strengthened. Kong and Terk started having trouble with mating. The male didn't succeed in courting his female, moreover his failures increased as time went by. His wife conjectured the worst possible outcome: Kong found her fat and unattractive and didn't love her anymore. She feared he would cheat on her and therefore checked him more thoroughly. He found this quite aggravating after a while. They began losing patience with each other as a result they argued more and more. Their friends and Ishema were at times ear- and eyewitnesses of these quarrels including the one in which Kong put the tiara on Terkina's head to take out his negative emotions which he harbored toward her on her. The female reacted by turning around and spraying him like a skunk with the malodorous fluid secreted by her anal stink glands. The stench was a bit worse than a skunk's, it induced gagging and watering of eyes. Since the male came into physical contact with the fluid he stunk for two weeks and had trouble eating in the first few days due to heaving at times. Sometime after this during a loud argument King Kong left the nest out of rage, Terk snapped and headed to her mother in tears. After squeezing her complaints out of herself a crying spell overcame her. Ishema embraced her daughter, they were still holding each other when the silverback arrived.

"Where were you," asked Terkina her mate demandingly after wiping her tears from the black, wooly fur of her cheeks.

"I should be asking you the same question since you also left the nest but I already found you," he replied coldly. "Complaining to your mother about me?"

The gorilla lady remained silent.

"Kong, Ukuri, you should talk things over in an open and honest way, your marriage is in a crisis. If you delay this, your marriage will fall apart! And don't think that your problems will be solved with a new relationship because there's a VERY high chance they won't, you'll just end up carrying your problems into it and then, you'll split with your new partners. Believe me when I say this, I had seen several monogamous relationships before in my troop and half of them ended with divorce, and most of the divorced ones' new relationships weren't long-lasting. Why? Their problems followed them! I suggest you discuss things as earnestly as possible, the sooner the better! Then, you can work on problem-solving," advised and suggested Kong's mother-in-law in a serious tone.

The male joined the two females.

"Where were you," asked her husband Terk.

"I was with the guys," he replied. "Let me guess, now you're going to ask me precisely where I was and whether there was female company present," he continued sarcastically. "I'm fed up with your interrogations in which I am to give you an account of EVERY minute of my life," he shouted.

"Well, I want to know where you are and who you're with because you don't love me the same," bellowed his wife. "Otherwise you'd be able to mate with me!"

"Cut it out, you two! This blaming each other for your marriage problems is no way to save your marriage. Why don't you begin by telling each other your problems, honesty is very crucial here," advised the older female. "I am thinking of mediating your conversation. Are you two into this? I may be able to help you."

"Yes," answered the couple.

"All right. I don't think your root problems are Ukuri's "interrogations" and Kong's impotence, moreover I doubt the latter has a natural cause. Kong, Ukuri has told me several things about your behavior, but I think these indicate an underlying problem. I suggest you confess to her what your problems are and the reasons for your behavior or what makes you act like this. If you don't want to open up in front of me I'll go further so that you can discuss this privately. Ukuri, I recommend listening to Kong possibly without interrupting him and without thinking about what you will say to him, how you'll react. All you need to do is listen VERY carefully," suggested Ishema. "I think you'll hear things that will shed some light on your marriage crises."

"Okay... I think the problems started when I got bored in this relationship. I mean, we have been doing things the same for a loooooong time. This includes foraging at the same places, going on trips and spending alone time at the same places and even mating the same way. I tried suggesting to Terk that we should do things differently but she kept rejecting this. I am seriously bored of this marriage because it is monotonous due to this I don't enjoy it anymore and I haven't been in the mood to mate. I'm angry with Terk and disappointed in her. As a result of this and because of boredom I bother her and annoy her, I put her tiara on her head and loudly pass gas in front of her more than I usually do. She reacts and tells me to stop, but I keep doing these things again after a while because they occupy me, it's fun and I'm mad at her. Well, as time went on my mating problems came up and our arguments got worse. I yell with her because I'm enraged with her, I blame her for my boredom and see her as the cause of my behavior. She just doesn't want to do things differently, I don't want to force her to do things differently, but because of her free will of declining, my will has been nullified as if it doesn't even exist," he stopped to keep himself from shedding tears, took a deep breath then, continued. "Terk always gets her way, we always do things the same..." he groaned.

His mate was surprised and saddened simultaneously. She hadn't known until now that he was suffering because of her.

"Ukuri, what do you think about this," asked the older female.

"I didn't know about this problem so far..." replied her daughter quietly then, burst out in tears. "Kong, I'm very sorry..." she failed to finish due to her emotions causing sobbing to overtake her capability to speak.

After a while she continued.

"I thought you thought that I was too overweight for you and not beautiful anymore. I checked you and interrogated you more deeply because I was worried that you will cheat on me then, leave me. Why didn't you tell me about your problem with me," murmured Terkina.

The silverback was amazed to hear these things, not knowing Terk's motives up until now. He kept silent for a short time.

"Terk, I have no problems with the way you look. You're fine just the way you are, even with your overweight. I didn't want to cheat on you nor forsake you. I didn't tell you about my problem because I didn't want to be in trouble with you," confessed the male in a gloomy tone.

It had a positive effect on his wife for her to know that she wasn't in danger of losing her husband but she didn't understand the last sentence he uttered.

"What do you mean you didn't want to be in trouble with me," she questioned looking confused.

"I didn't want conflict," he determinedly stated. "By the way, I have a question for you too. Why did you keep saying "no" when I suggested doing things differently and trying new things."

"Wait a minute, this just came to mind and it's best if this is answered. Kong, when you have a problem with someone do you swallow it not to cause conflict and give in to the other's will putting your will behind," enquired Ishema.

"I don't usually do that. But this problem with Terk was an exception for me. I didn't know how she'd react if I bring this up, she's my wife and the closest one to me," he replied.

"Kong, are you worried about being good enough for Ukuri," the orange-eyed female further enquired.

"Yes," said the male ape.

"Why," asked Ishema.

"I don't want to lose her," he responded. "No one has loved me like she has," he added.

"Are you afraid that you're going to receive less love from her if you say "no" to her and decide to engage in conflict with her to stand up for yourself," she enquired.

"Yes," he replied.

"Have others close to you deducted love from you if you disagreed with them and refused them," she wondered.

"Yes," responded Kong. "My own mother. She used it against me if I misbehaved or told her my disapproval of things, even if I stood up for myself," he revealed on the verge of tears.

Terk was shocked, her eyes widened.

"I think you're projecting these negative things in your and your mother's relationship into your relationship with Ukuri. Ukuri, did you not know about this," she said.

"I didn't know about this at all," she exclaimed.

"Kong, I suggest that if you feel like crying, don't hold it in, cry it out. Try your best to say "no" to Ukuri and stand up for yourself. If she were to deduct love from you as a result, it wouldn't be your fault, it would be her fault for getting back at you and causing you pain this way. It seems to me that your mother wasn't the best parent and caused you approval addiction towards the females in your life who you're closest to, this time it's not your mother, it's Ukuri. Ukuri, I don't know how you behave towards Kong when he disagrees with you, but if you act like his mother, you're destructive towards him. I advise you to help him overcome his approval addiction and help him open up and get him to tell you his true opinions and problems with you. Kong, I recommend you reveal to Ukuri what your relationship with your mother was like in a detailed way, since she didn't know about this problem up until now. Ukuri, why did you repeatedly decline Kong's request to do things differently," said the older female.

The silverback listened to Ishema and began weeping.

"I didn't feel like doing things differently. I like doing things the same if they work well," answered Terk.

"Why don't you feel like doing things differently," enquired her mother. "Is it because you're afraid of change?"

"Yes," replied Terkina.

"Are you afraid that you're not going to like and enjoy changes," she wondered.

"Yes," responded her daughter.

"Knowing your life I can understand this. You were taken from me when you were a few months old into a completely different environment. Your meeting Kong and the first few days of sharing your enclosure with him wasn't positive for you. Your keepers introducing another female into your enclosure without your and Kong's consent and her living there with you for days also had negative effects on you. Tarzan's betrayal and your almost ending up getting pregnant by artificial insemination thanks to him was hard for you to digest and had a very rough effect on you. Your first weeks on Skull Island, another environmental change, having to quickly take up another lifestyle, having to do things yourself and get used to not being served, weren't easy. Your not being accepted by most of the females in the troop because you're quite different from them didn't impact you positively. I think you associate change with negativity and it not being safe is due to these several bad changes. I don't think Kong's suggestions regarding doing things differently will hurt you. I think you should try these things, at least try. Kong, I advise you to help Ukuri in proving to her that not all change will be bad for her and help her overcome her association with change. I think doing things differently is crucial in your marriage since Kong has a need for variety," expounded Ishema. "So, I think we've made a lot of progress in talking things over. I think you both should communicate better and more honestly than before. If you don't talk about your problems, they will remain, even get worse and cause damage in your lives, even your marriage. Ukuri, I think you should try new things, Kong, you should help her in this. Kong, I think you should share your problems with Ukuri, even the ones with her and should tell her openly and honestly your opinions about things, even if they are different or opposing to hers. Ukuri, please help Kong to open up and not be afraid to share his opinions, also try to avoid treating him the way his mother treated him. Is there anything else you both would like to share with each other," she summarized.

"No, nothing else came to my mind," responded the silverback tiredly.

"No," answered Terk weakly.

"Okay," said Terkina's mother. "I think you both should take a rest now. Please, help each other in solving each other's problems, communicate more and more honestly. I think it would be beneficial to talk about Kong's relationship with his mother. If there's a problem, even with one another don't hide it," she added.

"Thanks for helping us," said her daughter.

"Thanks," said King Kong.

"You're welcome," replied Ishema.

The male and his mate spatiated back to their sleeping place then, fell asleep. After that, they discussed the suggested topic and things not mentioned in the intervention.


	23. Foreigners on Skull Island part 1

Foreigners on Skull Island part 1

One overcast, gloomy night two exhausted, giant creatures dragged themselves to shore using their slender forelegs ending in hooks to pull themselves out of the sea. When they finally stood up the female, who stood on sixes, 2 pairs of forelimbs and 1 pair of deer-like hind legs ending similarly to cloven hoofs, measured about 90 meters tall. Her mate, who was carrying a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile containing multiple nuclear warheads in his mouth, also got up. He lacked a pair of forelegs but possessed a pair of membraned wings that made up for it and enabled him to fly unlike the female. On his fours, he reached two-thirds of his spouse's height. The only source of light in this darkness was their long, narrow, glowing reddish orange eyes which scanned their new environment.

"This place doesn't seem hostile so far," said the smaller one after placing the rocket into one of his small limbs. Then, he yawned revealing sharp, white, glistening teeth.

"I hope it's not dangerous. I don't see any humans nor buildings, nor do I want to. I've had enough of them. They're everywhere and they're savage. We can't even remain in the wild, they find us then, attack us," replied the female. "Wherever humans are that's no place to raise a family."

The couple crept along the sandy beach until they reached a barren and rocky place with poor vegetation. They decided to explore the area, shortly they stumbled upon a huge, deep cave, containing blackness. They entered then, mapped the cavern using their echolocation. They deducted that this geophysical structure has plenty of room for them, but detected presences of other lifeforms, who were non other than terapusmordaxes clinging to the ceiling by their feet, who had returned not long ago from their foraging and had fallen asleep. The M.U.T.O.'s decided to "evict" them. They crawled outside, tore some trees from the ground with their small pair of limbs and returned into their new abode. They determinedly and forcefully swatted the hairless, bat/mole rat-like creatures with the trees which arrogantly roused them out of their sleep. The terapusmordaxes either regained consciousness when they were already on the arc-shaped path ending at the hard ground or when they painfully impacted the solid, stone floor whilst emitting a shrill screech. Then, they scrambled up and frantically flew out of the cave into the night into the distance not yet knowing where to travel to. After the cavern was free of them the new homeowners occupied it and went to sleep.

A week after the M.U.T.O.'s arrival King Kong and Terkina spent time together at the beach further from the troop. Since Sharam had been torn apart and eaten by tyrannosaurus-rexes it was safe for them to be alone. They had already solved their marriage problems and were drawing in the yellowish sand with sticks which was an activity the male enjoyed doing.

"Almost a week ago the Old claimed that he had seen two colossal beings in the middle of the night haul themselves out of the ocean. One of them had 8 limbs but walked on six of them, the first four which ended in hooks and the last two which seemed to end in hooves. The 8th pair was small and thinner compared to the others. The creature had quite narrow, long glowing red-orange eyes. The Old couldn't tell where its head ended and neck began. It had this angular hump on its back. When it moved its head the hump also grew taller or shorter with it. Its body had the largest diameter from the tip of the hump down to the belly. From the left and right of these points its body gradually decreased in thickness, the rear part of it ended in a short, stubby, pointed tail. According to the Old it was about 11 times as tall as a silverback. The other creature looked like a smaller version of the one I described except it had 6 pairs of legs and one pair of triangular wings. So it had wings instead of the forelegs nearest to its head. It was about 7-8 times as tall as a silverback," reported Kong.

"Can you draw it," asked Terk.

"Yeah," responded her husband.

A while later he finished drawing the male and female M.U.T.O.

"Seriously? The Old said that he saw these things," questioned Terk with skepticism. "These don't look like any known animal, what are they?"

"The Old didn't seem to be joking when he was spreading the word about them. And it also turned out he was telling the truth about Mothra, but I still have doubts about these beings. We'll find out sooner or later whether these creatures really exist or whether the Old was just dreaming," replied the male.

The gorilla couple caught site of the male M.U.T.O flying off into the distance above the teal ocean. As he was fluttering from place to place he studied the ocean surface looking for prey. When he noticed a cloud of vapor loudly erupt from the surface he swiftly flew above it, straightened the ends of his forelegs and dropped himself onto the whale while stabbing it. To make sure his victim wouldn't slide off of his forelimbs, he clamped it with his jaws then, dragged it out of the ocean with the help of his flapping wings. While this was happening the apes urgently galloped into the forest and watched from behind some evergreen bushes.

"The Old wasn't lying, dreaming nor hallucinating," said King Kong in a low voice.

"I see. How did these things get here and what do they want," wondered Terk in a concerned way.

"I don't know," answered her husband.

Minutes later the femuto arrived on the scene, her lower belly curved a little and glowed in an orange-red hue.

"I am starving," she exclaimed.

"I know," said the male. "I hope your eggs have embryos this time. Let's eat."

"I don't know if they do. We've been trying for years without it paying off," she glumly replied.

"Let's hope we'll succeed the time," he responded.

The two devoured the marine mammal quickly tearing pieces from it and swallowing them without chewing. The gorillas remained behind the shrubs they didn't dare sneak back to their nest to avoid getting detected. After the M.U.T.O.'s finished consuming whale flesh the Hokmuto spotted Kong's drawings in the sand.

"Bashira, look, someone drew us," exclaimed the male.

King Kong glanced towards Terk.

"That someone was me," said the silverback quietly in a high pitched, BeeGees voice.

The gorilla lady began giggling with as less noise as possible, even muffling her nose and mouth with her hand.

"I hope it wasn't humans, Tadashi. That's us all right. Hey, my butt isn't that big," commented Bashira in an unsatisfied way.

"It may become that big when you're carrying full-term eggs," joked Tadashi.

"I wish that stick on the sand was bigger," said the female.

"Why," enquired the male.

"So that I could drum on your head with it," revealed the femuto.

The apes were quietly giggling at the "show." The M.U.T.O.'s left, the giant apes wondered back to their nest. They confirmed the Old's report with their own testimony. The elders forbid the troop to go near the unknown animals. As weeks passed reports of M.U.T.O. sightings and observations of their behavior increased. Some band members described their eating habits and their feeding on large marine creatures. Others shared information about their failed attempts of reproduction, their disappointment of the female carrying infertile glowing eggs inside of her. A group of the members suspected that they live on the stony, lifeless other side of the island. The next time Kong and Terk planned to stay on the shore for a while they made sure to check whether the coast is clear of M.U.T.O.'s or not. Not detecting any of them they went for a swim, play fought then, the silverback drew his mate, who stayed in one position, in the dry sand. They were so deeply involved in their activity that they didn't observe the M.U.T.O.'s approaching them.

"There are gorillas over there," said Tadashi.

The apes suddenly jerked their heads up and glanced wide-eyed at the direction of the voice. The sight of the two large beings startled them. Terk jumped up on her fours when the silverback tossed his rod up into the air in a way that it spun around whilst airborne. Then, they swiftly galloped back into the forest, King Kong emitting desperate hoots in the process. They hid behind some dense vegetation and viewed the events from there. The M.U.T.O.'s arrived to the islanders' previous sitting spaces to take looks at their drawn images.

"So it's these gorillas who have been making these drawings. I thought they aren't this intelligent to do this on their own," remarked Bashira. "Well that's interesting. The male was drawing the female who has weird hair. This is not usual of gorillas. She seems pregnant," she further commented.

"I'm not pregnant, I'm fat," yelled Terk angrily and clamorously out of defense without thinking.

Her husband shifted his gaze towards her and made a terrified look.

"Now we're screwed," he whispered madly.

Two mostly metallic black forelimbs spread the trees apart, their trunks snapping, with ease where the gorilla couple was hiding. Even though the apes were trying to conceal themselves behind the shrubs, the M.U.T.O.'s towered high and were able to witness them. King Kong and Terkina remained motionless, excluding their heads which observed the unfolding happenings. The large creatures lowered themselves to visually examine the fearful animals more closely, the length of the female's head, excluding the plate which continues on her neck and back, was almost twice the height of a silverback.

"You can talk," asked Tadashi.

"Um, yes," replied the male gorilla timidly.

"Yeah," answered his wife anxiously.

"What are you doing here on Skull Island," enquired the silverback a bit afraid still.

"Skull Island is the name of this place? We're here to found a family away from humans without being harmed," responded Bashira.

"How many are you having," asked Terk.

"Our species are supposed to have hundreds of offspring, but it turned out that my eggs don't contain any embryos for the zillionth time," answered the female disappointedly.

"Hundreds!? I don't think this island is big enough for hundreds of you. By the way what do your kind and your kind's offspring eat besides whales and whale sharks? What are your species," wondered Kong.

"Yes, hundreds at a time. We feed off of radiation, but we can eat flesh and radioactive things such as nuclear missiles and waste, since we can digest metal we can probably eat anything. We haven't found any source of radiation here, so we chose to eat whales and whale sharks, even dinosaurs, since my hunts for the mentioned marine creatures haven't always been successful. We're a parasitic species mentioned among humans as M.U.T.O. which is an acronym for Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism. We would hunt down and kill godzillasauruses for food and our females would lay their eggs in their carcasses since godzillasauruses were rich in radiation, ideal food for our children. Bad news is the godzillasaurus became extinct because of a disease. Since this mass wipe out we were forced to find other ways compensate our energy shortage. We stay a lot in the sun, this helps, but it's not enough. We eat solid food such as whales and whale sharks, which the godzillasauruses used to hunt but now they're our prey. At times we raid human cities when the humans are inactive and eat radioactive objects as quick as possible then, leave just as speedily. Since our obliged changes in diet has caused deficiency in radioactivity we have had problems with reproduction, not only us but other couples. Some mated pairs, including us, haven't been able to have any children due to infertility. A portion of the females in these couples end up gestating hundreds of eggs lacking embryos to full term and then laying them, some of our courtships ended like this the most recent one will end like this too. About 35 % of all the life-mates have at least once reproduced successfully but in way which is not usual of our species. The ladies in this group seem to be carrying hundreds of infertile eggs. They reach the end of gestation, but egg-laying is delayed. Being maximum two weeks late is still usual, but if the delay is more than two weeks there's a chance that about 1-5 of the eggs have an embryo. Usually two or three eggs contain a life. These eggs hatch inside the female's womb then, they began to consume the unfertilized eggs and grow, they don't produce waste. After they have hatched the female's body prepares for the pregnancy and releases pheromones indicating the pregnancy. A layer, which absorbs some of the babies' movements and will allow nutrients and oxygen transport, develops on the lining of her womb. As the eggs lacking embryos are eaten the female gradually secrets fluid into her uterus to support her embryos. After all eggs are eaten the babies produce a permeable layer of tissue on their exterior, which allows the fluid to flow through it, soon the tissue separates from the embryos' skin. The separation is not full but as it occurs an umbilical cord forms connecting the embryo to the tissue. The tissue, which is more and more like a sack, expands until every tissue blocks the other's. This happens so that the babies don't injure each other. Nutrients, radiation and oxygen is transported from the womb to the sacks then, through the umbilical cords to the embryos. From the time that the embryos hatch up to birth, which is painful for the female and lasts about six hours, 10 weeks pass. The babies from the tip of their noses to the end of their bottoms are about as long as tall you are," expounded the Hokmuto. "What kind of gorilla are you? Do you really differ from the other much smaller gorilla species? If so, how are you different? By the way do humans live on this island, if so how technologically developed are they?"

"That's really interesting. We're megaprimatus kongs, mountain gorillas are our closest relatives. There are several differences between them and us. Not only are we bigger in size, we have a lifespan of about 250 years, our gestation period is 12 months instead of 8.5 months. We have a wider variety of eye colors than any other gorilla species and are more intelligent than them according to humans. We can express emotions better with our faces than any other kind of gorilla. We are familiar with the term monogamous relationship, a few of us live in these, such as Terk and I. We are omnivores, not herbivores. We sometimes hunt. If we are attacked by other species and utterly defeat our attacker we kill it and consume its flesh. Here's the most interesting difference: our females have anal stink glands, they spray the same way as skunks do, but the stench of their fluid is a little worse than a skunk's. The stink can be smelt from 7 kilometers. Females use this to protect themselves since they are physically weaker than males. When Terk's and my marriage was in crisis we had had a very rough time. One time we got into a nasty argument, we were very angry with each other. I did something to Terk which really made her mad. Without a word she abruptly swiveled around, the next thing I knew was that I was blind, my eyes were stinging like crazy and I was heaving, the odor was so horrible. That's when I realized that she sprayed me. I stunk for about two weeks. A tribe of humans live on this island. They're not technologically advanced, you don't have to worry about them, they don't have a military, their worst weapons are spears," expounded the silverback.

"Sounds interesting. That's great news that the humans aren't dangerous," said Bashira. "Terk is your name? Is the stench that you produce really that bad," she asked the female ape.

"Just realized I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Terkina, but Terk for short. I got that name from my ex-human caretaker since I was raised by humans in New York City. How I ended up in that place, then back here on Skull Island is a pretty long story. My other name is Ukuri, that's the name my mother gave me who I got reunited with not too long ago. Yes, the smell is terrible. Do you want me to spray it on some object after we find one," answered Terk.

"Yes," replied the female M.U.T.O. "By the way my name's Bashira."

"I am Tadashi," said the male M.U.T.O.

"My name is King Kong, but most of the members in the troop call me Kong," said the male gorilla.

The apes crept out from behind the bushes. Both parties could view each other better now.

"Woah," exclaimed Terkina when she witnessed the size of the M.U.T.O.'s. "I've never seen any creature bigger than you!"

"Are those eggs," enquired King Kong glancing at the femuto's belly having the curve of a half circle from side-view, glowing like the setting sun due to being full of eggs, similar in appearance to swollen center-less chia seeds, emitting orange light.

"Yes, but as you can see they lack babies," responded Bashira melancholically.

"Let's see if the megaprimatus kong spray is really that awful," suggested Tadashi.

"Okay," said the gorilla lady. "There's a tree with a wide trunk. I'd like to aim at that."

The kongs and M.U.T.O.'s crawled to the mentioned plant resembling an old, lifeless plane tree. Terk stuck her pointer finger in her mouth than lifted it up.

"What are you doing," asked the Hokmuto.

"Checking the direction of the wind. Don't want to end up spraying contrary to the upwind," replied Terkina then, turned her behind towards the tree, considering the direction of the breeze. "All right, now get in front of me and back away a little," she requested.

After they obeyed her she stuck her bottom out and suddenly emitted a golden yellow, partially pulverized fluid streak in less than a second. Her audience began coughing and gagging.

"That is nasty," shouted the male M.U.T.O. then, backed off whilst coughing and heaving in the process.

His mate also reacted the same way.

"This is horrible! It smells like rotten fish and excrement at the same time," she exclaimed.

The silverback joined the creatures bigger than him, his eyes were watering and he was dry heaving in the process. His wife crawled to them, then they spatiated further away until the strong odor was tolerable.

"I have never smelt anything worse than this," commented Tadashi. "I can't imagine what you went through when you got sprayed," he said to Kong.

"I understand. I had a hard time stopping myself from gagging and being able to eat without throwing up in the first few days," replied the male ape. "By the way, I have been wondering what would happen if you ended up laying hundreds of fertile eggs, let's say 400. All hatch, there's now 402 of you. Skull Island is not a large place, it's nothing compared to a continent, there's no radiation and you all need energy, the children are too little for such a long journey moreover. What would you do," enquired the male gorilla already having a hypothesis.

"When M.U.T.O.'s eggs hatch the parents raise them for a while until they are large enough to fend for themselves. They hunt for them and protect them. After they tire out of feeding the children who are growing and so is their appetite they send them away. A part of the kids live solitary lives the other portion of them live in small groups. They stalk the offspring of godzillasauruses and consume them. Well, godzillasauruses are out of the picture here... I'd continue hunting for whales and whale sharks if I'm not successful with that I'd venture deeper into the island and catch dinosaurs. I don't think I'd find as much marine creatures as we'd need in time, we'd end up gradually increasing the amount of dinosaur flesh in our diets. We'd need more and more food. We'd probably run out of dinosaurs in time and need to find something to feed the kids and us. We'd try eating fruits, we'd need a lot of it then, we'd run out of that. What I'm going to say will be very ugly. Due to the food shortage our kids would turn against each other, cannibalism is not foreign to us when there are food shortages. We wouldn't be able to keep our eyes on 400 offspring at the same time, we'd know that if we'd protect them from each other we'd have more mouths to feed but if we wouldn't we'd cause spiritual, emotional and physical wounds and death, which would also hurt us but we'd have less to feed. So, I think we'd lose some offspring, mostly or entirely males, since they are less powerful than the females. We'd try to save a few males and care for them. We'd send away all of the other offspring excluding 2 females. The kids who are not staying with us would be against each other and would wonder off and try living independently. They'd need to hunt for themselves. Maybe the males would try hunting for whales and whale sharks and become aggressive towards each other, even kill each other for food. The females may turn against the males, murder them, and eat them, but some males may form gangs to fend them off and hunt in packs. Taking this into consideration we'd still keep the males and 2 females and raise them. We'd probably have to face attacks from our estranged children since they'd be burning from jealousy and revenge. Those who wouldn't resort to cannibalism would hunt your species who are in the famine that we caused and your population would be decreasing. They wouldn't be newborns your size but larger than you and may overpower you in strength and numbers. You'd become extinct. From this point on all food sources for us would have been depleted. There would be no dinosaurs, no fruit, no megaprimatus kongs but the sea remains as our only option. I don't think we'd be able to find enough food for all of us still. Cannibalism among our kids would continue, we'd have to face that and our estranged ones' attacks while trying to support and protect ourselves and our kept little ones. We'd probably have to gang up and kill our attackers, who are our own blood, to keep ourselves from getting murdered. Our tight group which let's say consists of us and 2 males and 2 females would have to find a new place to live, we'd have to make the long journey across the ocean. Luckily we'd encounter whale sharks and whales as we travel, the male children and I would spot them when airborne and scanning the sea surface and hunt them down for all of us. We'd probably survive," explained Tadashi.

"Long story short we'd end up destroying Skull Island's ecosystem," replied Bashira.

"This is what I thought," responded the silverback. "The ecological balance would become irreversible imbalance. This island has its own ecosystem consisting of native species which we can say is in balance. We need plants, they are our main food source and also food for other plant-eating creatures. We and those other animals are also needed because after we and they eat plants we lay our droppings which contain nutrients on the ground and the nutrients eventually seep into the soil where the plants can access them, they are necessary for their survival. So we, the other omnivores and the herbivores need plants and plants need us and them. We also need carnivores and omnivores as well to control the populations of the other omnivores and also the herbivores so that they don't end up devouring all of the plants and being the cause of a food shortage which affects every link in the food web. So we need every species here even our enemies, the carnivorous dinosaurs. Now if one link or more were to be taken out of our food web, the ecological balance would collapse. This were to happen what you described, Tadashi, if you would have hundreds of children here. What I'm going to say will sound offensive but you're not a native species here, you aren't in our food web, and you would do us much harm if you were to reproduce by hundreds. You mentioned that since the godzillasaurus became extinct, your species have the problem of radioactivity deficiency and you have much much less offspring than usual. What I just mentioned all connects. I think it's nature's way to prevent your kind from overpopulation, since your enemies that you need have fallen out of the food web or chain that you're in. It seems to me that your species need to join another food web to survive, but your offspring are very few to prevent as less as possible amount of damage to your new food webs," expounded King Kong.

"It makes sense what you're saying," answered the femuto.

"I will try to hunt marine creatures first but if my hunts are unsuccessful I will need an alternative food source such as dinosaurs," replied the Hokmuto.

"In that case I suggest you hunt different kinds of dinosaurs, not just the same one," responded Kong.

"Speaking of food we're going to eat soon," said Bashira.

"So are we," replied Terk.

After the farewell both parties went about their business. King Kong and Terkina reported their experiences with the M.U.T.O.'s to the elders then, to their friends.


End file.
